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March 22 (UPI) -- A federal court ruling has ordered adult film star Stormy Daniels to pay former President Donald Trump almost $300,000 in legal fees stemming from her failed defamation suit against him. The ruling, which was made last Friday, was disclosed late on Monday.
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Daniels filed the defamation suit in 2018 when then-President Trump ridiculed a police sketch of a man the adult entertainment star said threatened her in 2011 over her accusation of having an affair with Trump, suggesting that she made up the story.
A lower court ruled against Daniels and the adult film actress was petitioning the federal appellate court to overturn that decision. The appellate court declined and said Daniels was responsible for paying Trump's legal fees.
A federal judge said Trump's comments were protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously rebuffed Daniels' attempt to appeal the decision.
Late Monday, Daniels vowed that she won't pay Trump anything.
"I will go to jail before I pay a penny," she said in a tweet.
The case grew out of a 2016 lawsuit in which Daniels sought to be released from a nondisclosure agreement she'd signed with Trump about their sexual relationship. Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen later testified that he paid Daniels hush money to keep the affair secret.
Last month, a federal jury in Manhattan found Daniels' former attorney Michael Avenatti guilty of cheating her out of nearly $300,000. Avenatti faces up to 20 years in prison on a wire fraud charge and a mandatory sentence of two years on an aggravated identity theft charge.
