Stormy Daniels, the porn star involved in a hush money payment during the 2016 campaign, has been ordered to pay almost $122,000 in attorney fees to former President Donald Trump as he faces charges in New York over the alleged affair.
The news was first announced by Trump’s son Eric on Twitter.
“BREAKING!!! the 9th Circuit just awarded Trump $121,962.56 in attorney fees from Stormy Daniels,” he wrote. “Order just released. This in addition to the roughly $500k she already owes him.”
Harmeet Dhillon, the Republican lawyer who represented Trump in the case, congratulated Trump on his victory.
“Congratulations to President Trump on this final attorney fee victory in his favor this morning,” she wrote. “Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in attorney fee awards in his favor in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy Daniels.”
Congratulations to President Trump on this final attorney fee victory in his favor this morning. Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in attorney fee awards in his favor in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy Daniels. https://t.co/ld7SVvZOp6 pic.twitter.com/1b5P3flxFb
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) April 4, 2023
Trump was awarded the fees only a few hours after entering his not-guilty plea to 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records in New City Court.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s extensive investigation into six-figure payments made to Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both alleged sexual encounters with Donald Trump before he ran for office, led to the charges related to the hush money payment.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters that the indictment was a result of a “thorough investigation” by his office into Trump’s personal affairs.
“This is the business capital of the world,” Bragg said about New York City. “We regularly do cases involving false business statements. The bedrock of the basis for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is accurate record-keeping.”
In the indictment, prosecutors said Trump “orchestrated” a scheme to keep potentially damaging stories from getting out to the public, a trend they say continued into Trump’s presidency.
“During the [2016] election, TRUMP and others employed a ‘catch and kill’ scheme to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects”, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a news release along with the indictment. “TRUMP then went to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws.”
“In total, 34 false entries were made in New York business records to conceal the initial covert $130,000 payment,” the D.A.’s office said. “Further, participants in the scheme took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the reimbursements.”
Trump, meanwhile, has assured his supporters that it will only embolden him as he runs his third campaign for the presidency.
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” Trump said in a statement Thursday. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
