A day after U.S. President Donald Trump registered a minor win in a defamation case filed by Stormy Daniels aka Stephanie Clifford against him, the president targeted her in a tweet.

He called the adult film star "horseface" after a federal judge dismissed her defamation suit against him.

"Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas," Trump wrote in a tweet that also referred to a news article about the suit being tossed.

"She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!" Trump added, referencing to the non-disclosure agreement Daniels agreed with to keep silent on a brief affair she had with Trump. This was also the first time Trump mentioned Daniels by name since news broke of his affair with her.

Trumpโ€™s use of an insulting word, alluding to Daniels as an โ€˜uglyโ€™ looking woman goes back to the multiple times he has hit out at a womanโ€™s looks โ€“ rarely good, mostly bad, when referring to them.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday evening, Trump did not back down from derisively nicknaming Daniels โ€œhorsefaceโ€ hours earlier. He said โ€œyou can take it any way you want,โ€ when asked if it was appropriate to insult a womanโ€™s appearance.

Stormy Daniels was quick to respond to Trumpโ€™s tweet, citing what she called Trump's "shortcomings" and referring to him as "Tiny."

In the dismissed California lawsuit that started this twitter spat, Daniels claimed a tweet in which Trump said she fabricated a threat to her had defamed her, making her out to be a liar. The judge said the tweet was protected by free speech laws as โ€œrhetorical hyperboleโ€.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 17, 2018 05:03 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).