Stormy Daniels lawyer: We could sue Trump for defamation over sketch tweet
Stormy Daniels’s lawyer Michael Avenatti said Wednesday that he believes the adult-film star could sue President Trump for defamation over a tweet slamming the sketch she released of a man who she says threatened her.
“I absolutely think we can make a defamation claim about what happened this morning,” Avenatti said at an event hosted by the George Washington University Law School. “We have been thinking to add Mr. Trump to the defamation claim,” he added.
{mosads}Avenatti said that with the tweet, Trump called Daniels “a liar” and “effectively stated she was trying to con the American people as it relates to this sketch.”
Avenatti and Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had released a sketch Tuesday of a man who Daniels said threatened her years ago for speaking about her alleged affair with Trump.
Trump responded early Wednesday to a tweet suggesting that the man in the sketch was Daniels’s ex-boyfriend.
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
Avenatti hit the president as “completely unhinged” after the tweet.
In my experience, there is nothing better in litigation than having a completely unhinged, undisciplined opponent who is prone to shooting himself in the foot. Always leads to BIGLY problems…like new claims (i.e. defamation). LOL. #xmas #hanukkah #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 18, 2018
Daniels has sued Trump to be released from a nondisclosure agreement about their alleged affair, claiming that the deal is void because Trump didn’t sign the document.
She is also suing Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen for defamation for denying the alleged affair.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.