A spokesperson for Melania Trump has since said that the First Lady “is proud to continue standing up to, and fighting against, those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct.”
A judge has dismissed Michael Wolff’s lawsuit against Melania Trump, finding that the author’s “contorted” attempt to pre-emptively sue the First Lady is “not how the federal courts work.”
According to NBC News, Manhattan-based Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil criticized Wolff for engaging in an “inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship,” saying that she will not allow her court “to be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat.”
Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, agreed that Wolff and the First Lady “have a real dispute,” but said they “must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else.”
Wolff, writes NBC News, filed suit against Melania Trump last October after her lawyer, Alejandro Brito, told him in a letter that she would be “left with no alternative” but to sue if he didn’t retract statements that caused allegedly “overwhelming reputational and financial harm.”
In his lawsuit, Wolff asked the court to find that he did not defame Melania Trump. Furthermore, he asked that, if the First Lady were to sue, that she be held liable for any resulting legal costs, fees, and other unspecified damages.
Attorneys for Wolff initially sued under New York’s anti-SLAPP law, which prohibits lawsuits designed primarily to silence journalists. Brito, however, asked that the case be moved to federal court. In her decision, Vyskocil acknowledged that the federal court has jurisdiction over the claim, but said she would instead dismiss it “to be litigated like any other.”
A spokesperson for Melania Trump has since said that the First Lady “is proud to continue standing up to, and fighting against, those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct.”
In a prepared statement, Melania Trump said that she and her lawyers will fight back against “unfound and baseless lies” linking her to Jeffrey Epstein.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” Trump said. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”
Wolff, though, suggested he felt no choice but to sue. In his lawsuit, the author noted that the Trump family has “made a practice of threatening those who speak against them” with legal actions intended to “silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean style confessions and apologies.”
Wolff said that such threats are “designed to create a climate of fear in the nation so that people cannot freely or confidently exercise their First Amendment rights.”
Sources
Judge dismisses lawsuit brought by author Michael Wolff against Melania Trump
Judge throws out author Michael Wolff’s lawsuit against Melania Trump
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