Stormy Daniels sues Trump for defamation over his Twitter 'con job' remark
Adult film star Stormy Daniels filed her second suit against President Donald Trump on Monday, this time for defamation. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed the defamation suit against Trump over his tweet which claimed that a forensic sketch of a man who allegedly threatened her to remain silent about her and Trump's affair was "a total con job," according to reports.
President Trump and the adult film star reportedly had an alleged affair, shortly after the First Lady gave birth to his youngest son Baron Trump. The speculations of the affair between Trump and Daniels were rife after the Wall Street Journal, on January 12, reported that one of Trump's lawyers — Cohen — had arranged a $130,000 payment for Daniels to keep quiet about the duo's sexual relations.
Daniels, during a tell-all interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, claimed that after her alleged affair with Trump in 2006, an unidentified man physically threatened her five years later and told her to remain silent about the duo's sexual encounter. She claimed that the incident occurred in 2011 after she gave an interview to a gossip magazine.
The defamation suit was filed in a federal court in Manhattan centers on Monday. The suit was filed over Trump's April 18 tweet where he reacted to someone's tweet about the man's forensic sketch.
The adult-film star, earlier this month, reportedly worked with a forensic artist to create a sketch of the man she claimed threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot. She said that the unidentified man told her to "leave Trump alone. Forget the story," and suggested that if she did not then something bad could happen to her, reports state.
"A sketch years later about a nonexistent man," Trump wrote on Twitter. "A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!
The lawsuit claims that Trump's comment amounts to an accusation that Daniels fabricated the story about the threat and in turn exposed her to violent threats and ridicule, according to NBC News.
The complaint says: "Mr Trump used his national and international audience of millions of people to make a false factual statement to denigrate and attack Ms. Clifford."
Prior to this, the adult-film star filed a lawsuit against Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in an effort to dissolve the non-disclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 election. Daniels claimed that the agreement stood invalid consider Trump had not signed it.
Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said: "Regardless of who you are or what position you hold, you are not permitted to fabricate statements in an effort to deceive people. There are consequences for doing that."