Stormy Daniels must pay nearly $122,000 of Donald Trump’s legal fees that were racked up in connection with the porn actor’s failed defamation lawsuit, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The decision in California came at about the same time that Trump became the only ex-president to be charged with a crime when he was arraigned at a Manhattan courthouse yesterday, so will come as a small silver lining amid the torrid legal battle he faces. 

Trump pleaded not guilty in a New York City courtroom to a 34-count felony indictment accusing him of falsifying business records in a scheme to hush up allegations of extramarital affairs with Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal that broke during his first White House run.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement days before the 2016 presidential election.

She sued him for defamation after he dismissed her claims of being threatened to keep quiet about the tryst as a ‘total con job.’ A judge threw out the case in 2018.

An appeals court ruled Tuesday, April 4, 2023, that Daniels must pay nearly $122,000 of Donald Trump’s legal fees that were racked up in connection with the porn actor’s failed defamation lawsuit 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump walks, ahead of delivering remarks on the day of his court appearance in New York after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 4, 2023

On Tuesday, a commissioner for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump’s attorneys ‘reasonably spent’ more than 183 hours on an appeal of the case but denied a request for another $5,150 in other fees because it wasn’t itemized.

In all, Daniels has been ordered to pay more than $600,000 in Trump’s legal fees, tweeted Harmeet Dillon, one of his attorneys in the case.

That includes some $300,000 in attorney’s fees that Daniels previously was ordered to pay.

After a federal appeals court upheld that award last year, Daniels stated: ‘I will go to jail before I pay a penny.’

Messages seeking comment from her attorney, Oklahoma lawyer Clark Brewster, weren’t immediately returned after hours Tuesday.

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News that Daniels will be forced to shell out more money into his coffers will be welcomed by Trump, who last night begged his supporters to keep donations flowing in after claiming he would spend hundreds of millions to fight the court case and clear his name. 

‘If you are doing poorly, as many of you are, do not send anything. If you are doing well, which was made possible through the great policies of the Trump administration send your contribution to donaldjtrump.com,’ he declared via his Truth Social network. 

It came as his campaign sent out marketing emails to subscribers flogging a t-shirt with a mocked-up mugshot of Trump following his arraignment yesterday.

Former US president Donald Trump leaves after speaking during a press conference following his court appearance over an alleged ‘hush-money’ payment, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 4, 2023

No mugshot YET but that’s not stopping Trump from fundraising using a fake picture as the former president’s campaign claims $10M in donations since the Manhattan indictment

In another email message to supporters yesterday, Trump said: ‘You are why I could NEVER give up our mission to save America – no matter how nasty and vicious the attacks ever got.’

Claims that his campaign has pulled in $10 million in just five days could not immediately be verified because fundraising data is only recorded with federal authorities until the end of each quarter.

But in recent days the campaign said it had received a surge in small donations – a quarter of them from first time donors, averaging out at $34 apiece.

Trump, who was impeached twice by the U.S. House but was never convicted in the U.S. Senate, is the first former president to face criminal charges. 

The former reality TV star has been hyping that narrative to his political advantage, raising millions of dollars since the indictment on claims of a ‘witch hunt.’

A conviction would not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.