Stormy Daniels' defamation case against Donald Trump thrown out by judge

A judge has thrown out adult film star Stormy Daniels’ defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump.

The actress has also been ordered to pay the president’s legal costs.

The lawsuit came after Mr Trump tweeted about a composite sketch of a man Ms Daniels said threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about an alleged extramarital fling. He called it a “total con job”.

Los Angeles-based US District Court Judge James Otero said the president’s tweet was protected under America’s First Amendment, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech.

“The tweet in question constitutes ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ normally associated with politics and public discourse in the United States,” said the judge. “The First Amendment protects this type of rhetorical statement.”

He said it was a “one-off rhetorical comment” and there was no proof Mr Trump acted with malice.

Ms Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has filed an appeal and tweeted that “Trump’s contrary claims are as deceptive as his claims about the inauguration attendance,” a reference to claims that the president inflated the size of the crowds that welcomed him to the White House in January 2017.

The 39-year-old actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had claimed she was confronted by a stranger in the street in 2011 threatening her not to go public with her allegations that she had an affair with Mr Trump and later released a sketch of the suspect.

The next day the president tweeted: “A sketch about a nonexistent man. A total con job playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”

In the defamation lawsuit, Ms Daniels had argued the president’s tweet attacked the “veracity of her account” and “charged her with committing a serious crime”.

She said she received death threats and needed bodyguards to protect her following the tweet.

Mr Trump’s lawyer, Charles J. Harder, said the ruling was a “victory” for the president.

“No amount of spin or commentary by Stormy Daniels or her lawyer, Mr Avenatti, can truthfully characterise today’s ruling in any way other than total victory for President Trump and total defeat for Stormy Daniels,” he said in a statement.

The judge’s decision does not affect another lawsuit Ms Daniels has launched against Mr Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen seeking to invalidate a non-disclosure agreement she signed to stay silent over the alleged affair in return for a $130,000 hush money payment.

The president has denied having an affair with Ms Daniels.

Mmeanwhile, a leading Democrat lawmaker last night accused Mr Trump of making “creepy physical threats” against women who scared him.

Senator Elizabeth Warren hit back after the president ridiculed her DNA test results showing her distant Native American heritage.

Mr Trump has mocked Senator Warren’s claims in the past, calling her “Pocahontas”. He said in July that he would donate $1million to charity if a genetic test proved her bloodline.

After Senator Warren released the results yesterday showing some evidence of a Native American lineage - although it might date back six to ten generations - Mr Trump at first denied making the charity pledge and then claimed: “I’ll only do it if I can test her personally.”

“That will not be something I enjoy doing either,” he added.

Senator Warren, widely tipped as a possible 2020 presidential candidate, responded on Twitter, saying: “He’s trying to do what he always does to women who scare him: call us names, attack us personally, shrink us down to feel better about himself. It may soothe his ego - but it won’t work.”