Donald Trump brands Stormy Daniels 'Horseface' as he threatens to 'go after her' following court victory

Donald Trump has branded Stormy Daniels “Horseface” and a “total con” after a judge threw out her defamation lawsuit against him.

The president suggested he will retaliate with legal action of his own as he celebrated the suit’s dismissal in a gloating tweet.

Citing a Fox News headline about the judge dismissing the former adult-film star’s case, he wrote: “Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas.”

He added: “She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!”

Ms Daniel’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded angrily over Twitter, telling Mr Trump to “bring everything you have” and calling him an “embarrassment to the United States”.

The lawsuit was filed after Mr Trump tweeted about a composite sketch of a man Ms Daniels said had threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

Mr Trump had said the man was "non-existent" and that Ms Daniels was playing the "fake news media for fools".

Los Angeles-based district court judge S. James Otero ruled that the tweet was protected under America’s First Amendment, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech.

"If this Court were to prevent Mr Trump from engaging in this type of 'rhetorical hyperbole' against a political adversary, it would significantly hamper the office of the president," the judge wrote.

"Any strongly-worded response by a president to another politician or public figure could constitute an action for defamation. This would deprive this country of the 'discourse' common to the political process."

Mr Avenatti, vowed to lodge an appeal against the decision and said he was confident it would be reversed.

He said: "There is something really rich in Trump relying on the First Amendment to justify defaming a woman."

The judge's ruling also entitles Mr Trump to collect legal fees from Ms Daniels, but the amount that Ms Daniels would need to pay will be determined later, Mr Harder said.

The defamation claim is separate from another lawsuit Ms Daniels filed against Mr Trump, which is continuing.

She was paid 130,000 US dollars (£99,000) as part of a nondisclosure agreement signed days before the 2016 election and is suing to dissolve that contract.

Ms Daniels has argued the agreement should be invalidated because Mr Trump's then-personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, signed it, but Mr Trump did not.

Lawyers for Mr Trump and Mr Cohen now say the deal that paid Daniels 130,000 dollars to keep quiet was invalid, and they will not sue her for breaking it.

Mr Trump's lawyer said the president never considered himself as a party to the agreement and does not dispute Ms Daniels' assertion that the contract is not valid.

While Mr Trump and Mr Cohen want the court to throw out the litigation as moot, Ms Daniels' lawyer wants to keep the case alive, hoping to compel Mr Trump to answer questions under oath about what he may have known about the deal.

Mr Cohen pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance violations alleging he coordinated with Mr Trump on a hush-money scheme to buy the silence of Ms Daniels and a Playboy model who have alleged they had affairs with Mr Trump.