Three thousand miles away from his 

New York legal drama , Donald Trump

secured a substantial victory in another court.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the former president  in his
effort to recoup additional legal fees from adult film star Stormy Daniels, who
had filed and lost a defamation suit against him.

Daniels was ordered to pay Trump’s attorneys just over $120,000 in legal fees.
That’s on top of the more than $500,000 in court-ordered payments to Trump
attorneys she’s already been ordered to pay.

The civil litigation is officially unrelated to Trump’s arrest and charges filed
against him in New York, but both involved Daniels, who was paid $130,000
in hush money during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about an
affair. (Trump denies the affair.)

Daniels had sued Trump in 2018  after he called an allegation by Daniels that

an unknown man threatened her in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged
affair with Trump a “total con job” in a tweet.

Dismissing the lawsuit  in October 2018, District Judge S. James Otero said
Trump’s statement was protected by the First Amendment.

“The Court agrees with Mr. Trump’s argument because the tweet in question
constitutes ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ normally associated with politics and public
discourse in the United States. The First Amendment protects this type of
rhetorical statement,” Otero wrote at the time.

Otero later ordered Daniels to pay  roughly $293,000 in legal fees. She was
also ordered to pay $245,000 in fees after losing another appeal.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, had asked the appeals court
to knock down another award. The court declined her request.

“Clifford’s argument that the fee request is unreasonable and excessive is not
well-founded,” the 9th Circuit filing stated.

“Trump’s attorneys reasonably spent the requested 183.35 hours preparing a

motion to dismiss, a reply to the opposition to the motion, two extension
motions, the answering brief, and the fee application,” it added.

Trump attorney Harmeet Dhillon celebrated the ruling in a tweet  Tuesday,

saying: “Congratulations to President Trump on this final attorney fee victory
in his favor this morning. Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in
attorney fee awards in his favor in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy
Daniels.”