9th Circuit orders Stormy Daniels to pay more than $530,000 in win for Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday celebrated another legal win in the libel case Stormy Daniels brought against him after the court ordered she pay the former president a total now exceeding half a million dollars.

Less than two weeks ago, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the adult film actress to pay Trump more than $292,000 in legal fees.

The court "issued yet another attorney fees ruling in my favor against Stephanie Clifford (AKA 'Stormy Daniels') this time, awarding me $245,209.67 for my fees incurred in her 9th Circuit appeal of her failed lawsuit against me," Trump wrote in a press release, which spokesperson Liz Harrington relayed.

"As of now, Ms. Clifford owes me $538,262.00 in this case, not counting attorney fees for her appeal of the trial court attorney fee award, which the 9th Circuit upheld two weeks ago," Trump said.

The former president congratulated attorney Harmeet Dhillon and her law firm for winning the case, which he said "has been nothing but a disaster for Ms. Clifford and her lawyer Michael Avenatti, from the start."

Clifford filed several lawsuits against the former president and his attorney Michael Cohen in 2018, claiming in one that Trump defamed her on Twitter. 

Trump said Daniels' case was "a total waste of court time and resources, ending up with her owing me a large and growing amount in attorney fees that never needed to have been spent, spent, especially since as I have stated many times, I never had an affair with her-nor would I have ever wanted to (even in her wildest imagination!)."

Avenatti, who was sentenced for extortion in July to two and a half years in prison, was found guilty last month of cheating Daniels out of money.

Trump celebrated another win earlier in the evening Wednesday after the Federal Elections Commission fined the 2016 Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee over the infamous Steele dossier.