Stormy Daniels has raised a staggering seven-figure sum to pay legal fees she owes former President Donald Trump after a court dismissed her defamation lawsuit against him in 2018.
The GoFundMe fundraiser was started two weeks ago by her former manager and friend Dwayne Crawford, but the porn star’s supporters have already made over 20,000 contributions, bringing the total to over $1 million.
This comes months after Trump was convicted of all 34 felonies in his high-profile hush-hush trial, where a Manhattan jury found him guilty of falsifying corporate records.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, owes Trump $600,000 in legal fees related to her dismissed lawsuit.
“For over 6 years I have fought to tell the truth…and paid the price for it,” Daniels said in a statement to the page. “Part of this fight resulted in an automatic award of attorney fees after my day in court was denied.”
Stormy Daniels with Donald Trump in 2006, at the time of the alleged affair
The lawsuit came to light in April 2018 after Daniels posted a drawing of a man she said threatened her in Las Vegas in 2011.
According to her, he told her to “leave Trump alone.”
This alleged threat is said to have occurred years after Daniels allegedly had an affair with Trump in 2006.
Trump responded on Twitter, calling her claims a “total fraud” and saying the man “didn’t exist”
A few weeks after posting this rebuke on Twitter, Daniels filed a lawsuit against him in federal court.
In October 2018, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero dismissed the lawsuit, calling Trump’s tweet a “hyperbolic statement.”
Otero also said Trump’s statements were protected by the First Amendment.
Daniels attempted to appeal the decision in 2022, saying her attorney Michael Avenatti filed the lawsuit “without my consent and against my will.”
A judge ruled against her and ordered her to pay Trump’s enormous legal fees related to the case.
Now it appears that her fans and her allies in politics will foot the bill for her.
Daniels attends the 2024 Adult Video News Awards at Resorts World Las Vegas on January 27, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, speaks as she leaves the federal courthouse in Manhattan in New York City on April 16, 2018
“I received the most wonderful gift, because I will NOT be paying those legal fees myself!” Daniels wrote.
‘Complete strangers have generously rallied around a strong position and donated to help pay for it.’
She said that once the verdict is pronounced against her, she will use the remaining donated money to move her family to a safe place.
She says this is necessary because she received “numerous death threats” after Trump was found guilty on May 30.
She also claimed that Trump’s defense team showed her address to the entire courtroom while she was testifying in the case.
In her testimony as a key witness for the Public Prosecution Service, she described the shocking details of their alleged encounter in a hotel in 2006, which included mentions of condoms, spanking and missionary sex.
She also told the court that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer,” gave her $130,000 to keep her quiet about the alleged affair, which allegedly occurred while Melania Trump was pregnant with Baron.
Daniels claims she met Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The former president has consistently denied anything happened between them.
Daniels claims she met Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Trump has denied the affair dozens of times.
Crawford set the goal at $1.25 million, a figure the GoFundMe was quickly approaching on Tuesday.
“Every dollar we raise is confirmation that we care about Stormy too and are willing to continue this fight,” he wrote.
“Trump may have launched a massive fundraising campaign to avoid the consequences, but that doesn’t mean Stormy is going to be the sacrificial lamb of a corrupt system.”