Stormy Daniels is upping the ante, suing President Donald Trump for defamation, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Daniels — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — filed the complaint in federal court in New York on Monday, saying that a Trump tweet in which he dismissed a composite sketch that Daniels says shows the man who threatened her to remain silent about her relationship with the president was defamatory.
Earlier this month, Clifford worked with a forensic artist to make a sketch of the man she says threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011, telling her to “leave Trump alone” and “forget the story.” Daniels said the man also suggested something bad could happen to her should she ignore his warning.
In a tweet, earlier this month, Trump said that the man was “non-existent” and dismissed Daniels’ story as a “total con job” which he said was “playing the fake news media for fools.”
The court filing says the tweet was ”false and defamatory.” Daniels is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.
“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 complaint says.
Neither Trump’s attorney nor the White House responded to a request for comment.