Trump Accuses Adult Film Actress Stormy Daniels Of 'Total Con Job'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- President Donald Trump accused adult-film actress Stormy Daniels Wednesday of engineering a "total con job" by releasing a composite sketch of a man she claims threatened her to keep quiet about an alleged affair she claims she had with Trump over a decade ago.
"A sketch years later about a nonexistent man," Trump tweeted to his over 50 million followers. "A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for fools, but they know it!"
In addition to his message, the president retweeted a photo posted by a supporter showing Daniels with an ex-boyfriend, who looks similar to the sketch Daniels and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, revealed Tuesday.
While appearing on "The View," Daniels and Avenatti announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the man who Daniels claims threatened her.
On Wednesday, while responding to Trump on Twitter, Avenatti upped the ante, raising the reward offer to $131,000.
Reward increased to $131,000. Effective immediately. #justice #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 18, 2018
In a series of tweets, Avenatti referenced the recent FBI raid of the New York offices of Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, suggested that Cohen and Trump are the ones engineering a "con job."
FBI search warrants uncovering EXISTING documents and recordings showing con job after con job pulled on REAL people and very REAL American citizens (who didn't know it). Welcome to the playing field. #whereyoubeen #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 18, 2018
In my experience, there is nothing better in litigation than having a completely unhinged, undisciplined opponent who is prone to shooting himself in the foot. Always leads to BIGLY problems…like new claims (i.e. defamation). LOL. #xmas #hanukkah #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 18, 2018
Daniels is suing Trump and Cohen in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking to invalidate a non-disclosure agreement prepared by Cohen in 2016 to keep her from discussing her claims of an affair with Trump.
Although the president has never directly responded to Daniels' claims and White House press officials have said Trump denies it, Cohen has acknowledged paying Daniels $130,000 as part of the non-disclosure agreement he negotiated, but said it was paid with his own money without Trump's knowledge.
Trump has publicly denied any knowledge of the payment.
While Cohen deals with the FBI investigation, Trump and his lawyer have filed court papers in Los Angeles seeking to have Daniels' lawsuit put on hold.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)ted. Wire services contributed to this report.)