- The Washington Times - Monday, February 22, 2021

The Supreme Court rejected porn star Stormy Daniels’ defamation case against former President Donald Trump on Monday.

Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels, sued Mr. Trump after he said she lied about having an affair with him.

Ms. Daniels gave an interview about the affair to In Touch magazine in 2011 and later was threatened by a man telling her to “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.”

She released a sketch of the man she said approached her in a threatening manner.

Mr. Trump shot back at the accusations on Twitter and in a number of interviews denying the affair.

“A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!” the former president tweeted at the time.

Once Ms. Clifford saw the tweet, she filed the defamation lawsuit.

Mr. Trump argued his opinion was legally protected, moving to dismiss the lawsuit.

The lower court granted Mr. Trump’s request, and the high court declined to hear Ms. Clifford’s request for review of the case without comment.

Ms. Clifford said she had an affair with Mr. Trump in 2006. In 2016, she said she was paid $130,000 in exchange for her silence about the affair when Mr. Trump was running for president.

The payment was investigated for potentially violating campaign finance laws. Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Ms. Clifford is a former stripper and porn star. She came out as bisexual in 2019.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.

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