Trump scores a 'total victory' after federal judge dismisses Stormy Daniels' lawsuit and orders her to pay his legal fees

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Adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

• President Donald Trump's attorneys scored a victory in court when a federal judge dismissed adult-film actress Stormy Daniels' defamation lawsuit against Trump.
• Daniels was also ordered to pay Trump's legal fees.
• Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump in 2006, sued him in April after he disputed her claim that she was being threatened by a unidentified man in 2011 as "a total con job."
• The unidentified man allegedly warned her not to publicize her purported sexual affair with Trump.
• Michael Avenatti, who represents Daniels, said he would appeal the decision.

President Donald Trump's attorneys scored a victory in court when a federal judge dismissed adult-film actress Stormy Daniels' defamation lawsuit against Trump on First Amendment grounds and ordered her to pay his legal fees.

"No amount of spin or commentary by Stormy Daniels or her lawyer, Mr. Avenatti, can truthfully characterize today's ruling in any way other than total victory for President Trump and total defeat for Stormy Daniels," Charles Harder, an attorney for Trump, said in a statement to Business Insider.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued Trump in April after he described her allegations of being threatened by a unidentified man in 2011 as a "a total con job." Daniels, who claimed she had a sexual affair with Trump in 2006, alleged that a man accosted her in a parking and told her to "leave Trump alone."

"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 federal court complaint said at the time.

Harder argued that Trump's statement ought to be considered protected speech, and that Daniels did not identify specific damages.

"The Court agrees with Mr. Trump's argument because the tweet in question constitutes 'rhetorical hyperbole' normally associated with politics and public discourse in the United States," US District Court Judge Otero said in his opinion. "The First Amendment protects this type of rhetorical statement."

Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Daniels, said in a statement that he would appeal the decision and that her lawsuits against Trump and Michael Cohen, Trump's former longtime attorney, would "proceed unaffected."

"Trump's contrary claims are as deceptive as his claims about the inauguration attendance," Avenatti said in a tweet on Monday. "We will appeal the dismissal of the defamation cause of action and are confident in a reversal."