Porn star Stormy Daniels has filed a defamation suit against President Donald Trump for a tweet that said a forensic sketch of a man who allegedly threatened her in 2011 was “a total con job.”
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and was warned by an unidentified man to keep quiet about it five years later, after she gave an interview to a gossip magazine.
Earlier this month, Clifford worked with a forensic artist to create a sketch of the man she says accosted her in a Las Vegas parking lot, told her “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,” and ominously suggested something bad could happen to her.
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The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan centers on an April 18 post on Trump’s Twitter account in which he reacts to another person’s tweet about the sketch.
A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)! https://t.co/9Is7mHBFda
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018
“A sketch years later about a nonexistent man,” Trump’s post said. “A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”
The suit alleges Trump’s comment amounts to an accusation that Clifford fabricated the threat and exposed her to ridicule and violent threats.
“Mr. Trump used his national and international audience of millions of people to make a false factual statement to denigrate and attack Ms. Clifford,” the complaint says.
Trump’s attorney had no immediate comment on the defamation claim.
