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A federal judge tossed journalist Michael Wolff’s lawsuit against first lady Melania Trump on Friday, calling it a “contorted” effort and “not how the federal courts work.”
Wolff sued Trump to keep her from suing him for $1 billion for alleged defamatory statements he made about her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.
Manhattan Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, claimed both Wolff and Trump had engaged in an “inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship.”
Despite admitting that both sides have a “real dispute,” Vyskocil said she wouldn’t be “conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat.”
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The first lady’s lawyer sent Wolff a letter last year, calling on him to retract the statements he made about Trump and warning that she would have “no alternative” but to sue him if he didn’t.
That prompted him to file a state suit against her in October.
Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, had the lawsuit transferred to federal court where Vyskocil said that while federal court does have jurisdiction, she was declining to exercise it and “dismisses this case to be litigated like any other.”
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A Melania Trump spokesperson said Friday 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.”
The 56-year-old’s lawyer previously claimed that Wolff’s statements caused her “overwhelming reputational and financial harm.”
The first lady has denied any association with Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” the first lady said in an April press conference. “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 claimed in his lawsuit that the president and first lady “have made a practice of threatening those who speak against them” with costly legal actions “to silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean style confessions and apologies.”
He added that some of his statements were taken out of context and some were protected speech, including a statement he made that claimed the Trumps have a “sham marriage, trophy marriage,” that his lawsuit says was a “fair and justified” opinion.
It also said in his lawsuit that Wolff never accused the first lady of being involved with criminal activity associated with Epstein.
The Daily Beast retracted an article last summer called “Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author,” that was based on an interview with Wolff, after the outlet received a letter from Brito.
Wolff said that in his interview, which the retracted story was based on, he claimed the first lady was managing the matter “behind the scenes” at the White House, but was not criminally involved.
Wolff has written four bestsellers about the president: “Fire and Fury,” “Siege,” “Landslide,” and “All or Nothing.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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