A California federal judge awarded attorneys for President Donald Trump nearly $300,000 in fees Tuesday related to a failed defamation claim brought by porn star Stephanie Clifford.
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero directed Clifford to pay $293,052.33 to Trump's lawyers in a ruling Tuesday.
Clifford, known by her stage name "Stormy Daniels," brought her claim after Trump sent out a tweet dismissing comments she had made in broadcast interviews.
When Daniels said in a TV interview that a man had confronted her in 2011 after alleging an affair with Trump in an attempt to silence her, the president tweeted that the person who made the threats was a “non-existent man” and that her allegation was a “total con job.”
Otero had earlier indicated that the tweet was protected as free speech since it related to a matter of public concern and involved public figures.
Daniels was “in the process of making her story known to the world,” Otero said. He said the president’s tweets appeared to be “hyperbole that would be protected.”
Such speech “lies at the heart of the First Amendment” and to try to restrict it would have a “chilling effect on candidates running for office," the judge said.
Attorneys for Daniels argued that Trump’s tweet was false.
