WASHINGTON-- The porn actress who claims she had an affair with President Donald Trump is escalating her legal fight. She's suing the president for defamation.

Stormy Daniels filed the complaint in federal court in New York on Monday. At issue is a tweet Trump made in which he dismissed a composite sketch that Daniels says depicts a man who threatened her in 2011 to stay quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

In the tweet earlier this month, Trump said: "A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!"

The court filing says the tweet was "false and defamatory." Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.