The porn actress alleging an affair with President Donald Trump is escalating her legal fight, 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 depicted a man who threatened her in 2011 to stay quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

In the tweet earlier in April, 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 filing says the tweet was "false and defamatory," arguing that Trump was speaking about Daniels and that he "knew that his false, disparaging statement would be read by people around the world, as well as widely reported."

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages. Her attorney Michael Avenatti said Monday: "We intend on teaching Mr. Trump that you cannot simply make things up about someone and disseminate them without serious consequences."

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of high profile legal moves from Daniels, who already is suing to be released from a non-disclosure deal she agreed to days before the 2016 election in exchange for $130,000. The payment was made by the president's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Critics say the series of legal moves is intended to keep her name in the news, so she can profit from a high profile, nationwide strip club tour.