Stormy Daniels' lawsuit against Donald Trump over a hush-money settlement about their alleged affair could be thrown out.
A federal judge has not yet ruled on the case, but appeared to agree with lawyers for the president during a hearing on Tuesday that there was no grounds for a lawsuit.
Judge S James Otero, in the US District Court, told porn actress Ms Daniel’s attorney: "It seems you've achieved ... what you sought to achieve.”
Mr Trump and his former “fixer” Michael Cohen had asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit after agreeing to rescind the nondisclosure agreement.
The settlement included a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels.
If the judge does throw out the case, it would give both sides a chance to claim victory.
The case would allow Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to speak without threat of legal consequences.
But it would also prevent further litigation she has sought to force the president and Cohen to give sworn testimony.
Ms Daniels brought the lawsuit to free herself from the agreement that silenced her as the 2016 presidential campaign reached its conclusion.
Mr Cohen had arranged the payment and later pleaded guilty to campaign violations after admitting the deal was struck.
The now-US President has denied the alleged 2006 affair.
Claiming the agreement was not valid, Ms Daniels said Mr Trump’s signature was not on it and the president’s lawyer said he was never party to it.
Despite appearing to get what Ms Daniels originally sought, her lawyer fought hard to keep the case alive.
Her attorney Michael Avenatti wanted the case to continue so he could force Trump and Cohen to give depositions.
But it appeared the judge did not buy Avenatti's legal reasoning for keeping litigation going when there was no longer an issue in dispute.
Otero repeatedly asked Avenatti to cite case law to support his arguments.
But after he named several cases, Otero told him he was "mixing apples and oranges."
"I think we see the issues very differently," the judge said.
Still, Mr Avenatti declared his client the winner after Tuesday's hearing.
"They admitted what we said all along," he said.
"So any attempt by anyone to claim that this is not a victory for Stormy Daniels is completely bogus and nonsense and dishonest."
