Stormy Daniels says she will ‘go to jail’ before paying Trump ‘a penny’

Former adult-film star Stormy Daniels said in a tweet on Monday that she would “go to jail” before paying former President Trump any money following an appeals court decision ordering her to pay his legal fees.

“I will go to jail before I pay a penny,” Daniels said in a tweet after a federal appeals court upheld the decision ordering her to pay Trump $300,000 in attorneys’ fees after her failed defamation case. 

Trump called the decision a “complete victory and vindication” in a statement Monday. Daniels alleges she and Trump had sex in 2006 and says his attorney paid her to stay quiet about it ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

Daniels sued Trump in 2018 over a tweet in which he mocked her claim that a man threatened her in 2011 over her allegations of having sex with Trump. He called a sketch of the man a “con job.”

A federal judge dismissed the case that year, also ordering Daniels to pay Trump’s legal fees, and the Supreme Court declined a request to review the case. Daniels then appealed the legal fees to the 9th circuit. 

In response to the decision, Trump said in a statement, “As I have stated many times throughout the years, I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, nor would I ever have wanted to. The ruling was a total and complete victory and vindication for, and of me.”

Daniels issued another statement about the matter on Tuesday saying the case was not about “whether we had sex or not” but was “simply about if he could TWEET rude and false things about me.” Daniels also said that she never said the encounter was an “affair” though it may have been one to the former president “since it seems to be Trump’s pattern with women.” 

The amount Daniels now owes Trump is the same as the amount her former attorney, Michael Avenatti, was convicted of stealing from her. 

Avenatti was found guilty of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud earlier this year in connection with stealing $300,000 from Daniels from an advance for her tell-all book about her alleged affair with the former president.

“Trump won yesterday ON A TECHNICALITY due to Avenatti’s failure to file promptly. That technical ruling, although distressing, does not reflect on anything I have done or my credibility but is the result of negligence of a criminal lawyer, Michael Avenatti,” Daniels added in her Tuesday statement.

Daniels has previously said she harbored more anger toward Avenatti than toward the former president. 

“I only met Trump a handful of times, not even. I didn’t consider him to be a friend,” Daniels said. 

“Michael Avenatti betrayed my trust in every way possible. He lied to my face. He lied about me. He put me on a stand for five and a half hours and called me names,” she also said.

Updated at 5:18 p.m.