Stormy Daniels files defamation lawsuit against Trump

Porn star Stormy Daniels has accused US President Donald Trump of defamation. Photo / AP file

Porn star Stormy Daniels today filed another lawsuit against US President Donald Trump, accusing him of defaming her by dismissing as a "con job" her claim that she was threatened in 2011 after giving an interview about their alleged affair.

Daniels, who says she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006, said in a televised interviewin March that she was threatened after she gave In Touch magazine an interview about Trump.

She said she was with her infant daughter when a man approached her in a Las Vegas parking lot, told her to "leave Trump alone" and said it would be "a shame if something happened" to her.

Daniels never reported the incident to police. But after she talked about the parking lot encounter in a widely watched 60 Minutes interview, she released a sketch of the man two weeks ago.

Trump responded on Twitter: "A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!

Daniels's lawsuit, filed today in the federal court in the Southern District of New York, said Trump's tweet is "false and defamatory."

Charles Harder, a lawyer representing Trump, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Daniels first sued Trump in early March, seeking to void a deal she signed shortly before the 2016 election in which she received US$130,000 in exchange for keeping quiet about their alleged relationship.

That suit also named Essential Consultants, a company that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen set up as a vehicle for the US$130,000 payment. Daniels later amended that suit to add Cohen as a defendant and to accuse him of defamation.