Stormy Daniels is suing President Donald Trump over his comments dismissing a composite sketch of a man who the porn star says threatened her over her alleged affair with Trump more than a decade ago.
Earlier this month, Trump called the sketch “a total con job.”
“By calling the incident a ‘con job,’ Mr. Trump’s statement would be understood to state that Ms. Clifford was fabricating the crime and the existence of the assailant, both of which are prohibited under New York law, as well as the law of numerous other states,” Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, wrote in the lawsuit.
“It was apparent that Mr. Trump meant to convey that Ms. Clifford is a liar, someone who should not be trusted, that her claims about the threatening encounter are false, and that she was falsely accusing the individual depicted in the sketch of committing a crime, where no crime had been committed. … Mr. Trump made his statement either knowing it was false, had serious doubts about the truth of his statement, or made the statement with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.”
The suit is separate from another lawsuit in which Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, over the legality of a 2016 hush agreement in which she was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair between her and Trump. The President, who is also a defendant in the lawsuit, has denied any sexual encounter between the two. Daniels also has sued Cohen for defamation.
A California judge last week halted Daniels’ lawsuit against Cohen for 90 days while a criminal investigation of the President’s lawyer moves forward in New York.
Avenatti has said they plan to file an appeal of that stay.