A federal judge dismissed author Michael Wolff's preemptive defamation lawsuit regarding remarks linking Melania Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.
A federal judge dismissed author Michael Wolff's preemptive defamation lawsuit against Melania Trump over Jeffrey Epstein remarks.
NEW YORK— A federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed an aggressive declaratory-judgment lawsuit brought by author and biographer Michael Wolff against First Lady Melania Trump, refusing to decide ahead of time whether his public commentary linking her to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein constituted actionable defamation or constitutionally shielded speech.
U.S.District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the Southern District of New York issued a detailed 45-page memorandum opinion dismissing the complaint on prudential abstention grounds. The formal judgment was entered in Trump’s favor shortly thereafter.Crucially,the decision offers no substantive ruling on whether Wolff’s assertions were factually false,nor does it establish that they were protected by the First Amendment. It holds simply that Wolff cannot deploy a preemptive federal action to lock in legal immunity before an ordinary tort claim is brought before a jury.