Image copyright Getty/ Reuters Image caption Stormy Daniels does not deserve "respect", says Rudy Giuliani.

A lawyer for US President Donald Trump has said a porn actress who claims she had an affair with Mr Trump does not deserve "respect" due to her sex work.

"I respect women - beautiful women and women with value - but a woman who sells her body for sexual exploitation I don't respect," said Rudy Giuliani.

"Someone who sells his or her body for money has no good name," he added.

A lawyer for actress Stormy Daniels, who is suing Mr Trump for defamation, called Mr Giuliani "an absolute pig".

Speaking at an investment conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Mr Giuliani told a panellist on Wednesday: "I'm sorry I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation."

"I mean, she has no reputation," added the former New York mayor. "If you're going to sell your body for money, you just don't have a reputation. I may be old fashioned."

Mr Giuliani continued: "I know Donald Trump, and look at his three wives - beautiful women, classy women, women of great substance.

"Stormy Daniels?" He made a face and shook his head.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said this was the worst insult by the thrice-married Mr Giuliani.

"It's the slurs against Stormy Daniels that somehow suggest that, well, because Donald Trump has good looking wives that means that he wouldn't be a serial abuser of women," she said on MSNBC.

"Every part of that is wrong. It is wrong and it is an insult to every woman in this country."

Melania Trump distanced herself from Mr Giuliani's comments through her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham.

"I don't believe Mrs Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr Guiliani," Ms Grisham told the New York Times.

In response, Ms Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, called the former New York mayor a "misogynist".

He added: "His client Mr Trump didn't seem to have any 'moral' issues with her and others back in 2006."

The president and the porn star: Why this matters

Ms Daniels claims that she and Mr Trump had sex once during a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.

In April, Ms Daniels sued Mr Trump, accusing him of attempting to tarnish her reputation by seeking to discredit her claims.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Stormy Daniels: "Everyone should be treated with dignity and fairness"

Trump dismisses Stormy Daniels sketch

Mr Trump is suing the ex-porn actress, real name Stephanie Clifford, for violating a non-disclosure agreement.

She was paid $130,000 (£97,000) by another Trump lawyer not to disclose the alleged dalliance.

Meanwhile, Ms Daniels posted an advertisement for her new line of perfume, called Truth, on her Instagram page.