Stormy Daniels Raises Over $1 Million Through GoFundMe to Pay Trump’s Legal Fees
Logan Cyrus / AFP via Getty Images; Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels have been embroiled in multiple lawsuits related to their alleged sexual encounter in 2006. While the former president faced criminal charges in the Hush Money trial, the adult star’s 2018 defamation lawsuit against Trump was dismissed, resulting in her owing a substantial sum to Trump. Here’s how she managed to pay it.
Daniels’ former manager and friend Dwayne Crawford organized a GoFundMe fundraiser, and in just two weeks, Daniels raised over $1 million from 20,000 supporters, according to the Daily Mail. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford, owes Trump $600,000 in legal fees related to her failed defamation suit.
On her GoFundMe page, Daniels stated, “For over 6 years, I have been fighting to speak the truth…and paying the price for it. Part of this battle resulted in attorney fees being automatically awarded after being denied my day in court.” The lawsuit was filed in 2018 after Daniels released a sketch of a man she claimed threatened her in Las Vegas in 2011, telling her “to leave Trump alone.”
Trump predictably denied Daniels’ allegations, calling them a “total con job” on X (formerly Twitter) and asserting that the man in question was “nonexistent.” A few weeks later, Daniels sued him in federal court. However, in October 2018, US District Judge S. James Otero dismissed the case, saying Trump’s statement was a “hyperbolic statement” protected by the First Amendment.
Daniels tried to appeal the suit, claiming her lawyer Michael Avenatti filed it “without my permission and against my wishes,” but the judge ruled against her, requiring her to pay the legal fees. Despite this setback, her supporters rallied to provide financial assistance.
“I have been given the greatest gift because those attorney fees are NOT coming from me! Complete strangers have generously come together in a powerful stance and donated to cover it instead,” Daniels wrote on X. She also mentioned that once the debt is paid, she will use the remaining funds to relocate her family to a safer place due to multiple death threats.
As part of the defamation suit, a commissioner for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted that Trump’s attorneys “reasonably spent” more than 183 hours on the case appeal. Harmeet Dhillon, one of Trump’s attorneys, confirmed, “Daniels has been ordered to pay more than $600,000 in Trump’s legal fees,” as reported by AP News. This decision in California came around the same time Trump became the only ex-president to be charged with a crime.
