Name: Federal judge in Ohio sides with Stormy Daniels in legal fight with Donald Trump over settlement
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Federal judge in Ohio sides with Stormy Daniels in legal fight with Donald Trump over settlement

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NEW!2,389sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge has sided with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in another legal fight with President Trump.U.S. District Judge Michael Watson in Columbus ruled this week that Trump cannot touch the $450,000 settlement Daniels reached last year with Columbus over a botched arrest at a strip club.Trump had sought a portion of the settlement to go toward attorneys’ fees that a court awarded him in a defamation case that Daniels filed against him in 2018. A federal judge in California dismissed that case, but Daniels’ attorneys have appealed.Watson ruled that Trump lacked a valid legal claim for the settlement funds.Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has alleged an affair with Trump. In 2016, she sued to drop a nondisclosure agreement that kept her from speaking about it.“There is a reason that [Trump] likes litigation,” said Clark Brewster, one of Daniels’ attorneys. “He just grinds people down. In most cases, people don’t have the means to deal with it. In this case, Ms. Clifford does.”After she gained national fame for accusing Trump of the tryst, Daniels performed at the Sirens Gentlemen’s Club in Columbus on July 11, 2018. She was arrested by vice detectives on misdemeanor indecency charges.The charges were dropped the next day. She sued Columbus police, saying officers lacked probable cause and claimed the detectives were “avowed supporters of President Trump.”The city settled in November, and, within days, Trump’s attorneys sought to obtain a portion of the settlement.Brewster said Trump’s attorneys sought to collect, even though a judge on the defamation case never reduced the attorneys’ fees order to a judgment.That case stems from a defamation lawsuit Daniels had filed in U.S. District Court in California. It involved an April 2018 tweet from Trump that questioned Daniels’ statements about a man she had said threatened her and her daughter years earlier.Daniels released a sketch of the man whom she said had threatened him. Trump tweeted that her statements “were a total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools [but they know it]!”A federal judge, James Otero, dismissed the case, citing free speech. Brewster said his firm has appealed the case.When Otero dismissed the suit, he ordered that Daniels pay Trump’s attorney fees of $293,000. Those fees have yet to be paid.Watson also ruled that Daniels’ former lawyer, Michael Avenatti, also could not obtain a portion of the funds. He claims Daniels owes him $2 million for representing the actress in cases against the president, according to federal court records.Avenatti, who was convicted earlier this year of extortion involving Nike, is awaiting sentencing in federal court in New York. He also has been accused of fleecing money that Daniels made on a book deal.Attempts to reach Avenatti’s attorney in Los Angeles were unsuccessful.Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!2,389sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge has sided with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in another legal fight with President Trump.U.S. District Judge Michael Watson in Columbus ruled this week that Trump cannot touch the $450,000 settlement Daniels reached last year with Columbus over a botched arrest at a strip club.Trump had sought a portion of the settlement to go toward attorneys’ fees that a court awarded him in a defamation case that Daniels filed against him in 2018. A federal judge in California dismissed that case, but Daniels’ attorneys have appealed.Watson ruled...

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Federal judge in Ohio sides with Stormy Daniels in legal fight with Donald Trump over settlement

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