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(CNN) 3,000 miles away from the New York courtroom drama, Donald Trump has won a substantial victory in another courtroom.
The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals for the Circuit has upheld the former president in an effort to recover additional attorney fees from adult film star Stormy Daniels, who filed and lost a defamation lawsuit against him.
Daniels was ordered to pay Trump’s lawyers just over $120,000 in legal fees. This is on top of her court-ordered payment of more than $500,000 to Trump’s attorneys, which she has already been ordered to pay.
Although the civil lawsuit is officially unrelated to Trump’s arrest and the indictment filed in New York, Daniels received $130,000 in hush money during the 2016 presidential election. (Trump has denied the allegations.)
Daniels sued Trump in 2018 for tweeting that he was threatened by a stranger in a parking lot to silence an alleged affair with Trump, calling it a “total fraud.”
District Judge S. James Otero, who dismissed the lawsuit in October 2018, said Trump’s remarks are protected by the First Amendment.
“The court agrees with Mr. Trump’s contention, because the tweets in question typically constitute ‘exaggerated rhetoric’ relating to US politics and public discourse. protects the rhetorical utterances of the
Otello then ordered Daniels to pay approximately $293,000 in legal fees. She was also ordered to pay $245,000 in fees after losing another appeal.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had asked the Court of Appeals to drop another ruling.
“Clifford’s allegations that the fee claims are unreasonable and excessive are unfounded,” the Ninth Circuit filings said.
“Trump’s attorneys reasonably spent the requested 183.35 hours preparing a motion to dismiss, an answer to a dissenting opinion on the motion, two motions to extend, a summary of the response, and an application for fees,” it added. rice field.
Trump’s attorney Hermit Dillon celebrated the verdict Tweet Tuesday, “President Trump, congratulations on a final legal fees victory in his favor this morning. In total, we won more than $600,000 in prize money.”
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