The order is connected to a defamation suit Ms. Daniels filed against President Trump last spring. A judge dismissed it in October.<\/b>
\nA federal judge on Tuesday ordered the pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to pay President Trump about $293,000 in legal fees and sanctions after her defamation suit against him was dismissed.
Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers had requested about $389,000 in legal fees, but the judge, S. James Otero of United States District Court in California, said the number of billable hours was \u201cexcessive\u201d and cut the amount by 25 percent to about $292,000. Writing that Ms. Daniels \u201cis already being deterred from filing meritless defamation claims,\u201d Judge Otero ordered her to pay $1,000 in sanctions.
In a statement, one of Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers, Charles J. Harder, said, \u201cThe court\u2019s order, along with the court\u2019s prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels\u2019 defamation case against the president, together constitute a total victory for the president, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case.\u201d
On Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Daniels\u2019s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Trump and his lawyer sought to \u201cfool the public about the importance of the attorneys\u2019 fees\u201d \u2014 an effort he called \u201can absolute joke.\u201d
About two hours later, he added that \u201cStormy will never have to pay\u201d Mr. Trump or his former personal lawyer Michael D. Cohen \u201ca single dime in attorney\u2019s fees, costs or sanctions.\u201d But the tweet containing the second statement was later deleted.
The judge\u2019s order is intended to close out a defamation suit that had alleged that Mr. Trump defamed Ms. Daniels on Twitter last spring. The tweet in question was posted by the president on April 18, one day after Ms. Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, posted a sketch of a man who, she alleged, threatened her in 2011 as she was first considering speaking out about the affair she said she had with Mr. Trump.Mr. Trump called the sketch \u201ca total con job,\u201d depicting \u201ca nonexistent man.\u201d
In an October decision, the court sided with Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers\u2019 argument that the tweet included an opinion, which the president was free to express, and ordered Ms. Daniels to pay his legal fees.
According to court documents released on Tuesday, Mr. Trump\u2019s team claimed that five lawyers worked on the case, charging anywhere from $307.60 per hour to $841.64 per hour \u2014 rates that the court concluded were reasonable.
As recently as last month, the case was a source of tension between Ms. Daniels and Mr. Avenatti, who rose to fame by positioning themselves as critics of Mr. Trump. In a statement provided to The Daily Beast, which was published Nov. 28, Ms. Daniels accused Mr. Avenatti of having filed the defamation suit against Mr. Trump against her wishes. Four days later, Ms. Daniels tweeted that she and Mr. Avenatti had sorted things out.
Mr. Avenatti has filed two other lawsuits against the president and Mr. Cohen this year.
One seeks to void a 2016 nondisclosure agreement that prevented Ms. Clifford from discussing what she said was an affair she had with Mr. Trump in 2006. The second claims that Ms. Clifford\u2019s previous lawyer, Keith Davidson, conspired with Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump to keep Ms. Clifford quiet.<\/p>\n