Judge Leans Toward Tossing Stormy Daniels Defamation Suit Against Trump

[jmyrlefuller]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-leans-toward-tossing-stormy-daniels-defamation-suit-against-trump/ar-AAAB2Gh?ocid=spartandhp

by Edvard Pettersson and Erik Larson

Stephanie Clifford, claims she was threatened by an unknown man in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 for agreeing to cooperate with a magazine article about a tryst she says she had with Trump in 2006. After her lawyer released a composite sketch of the man, Trump accused Clifford in an April tweet of “a total con job" concerning a “nonexistent man.”

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero said at a hearing Monday that considering such statements as defamation would have a chilling effect on candidates running for office and hamper political discourse.

“This appears to be rhetorical hyperbole by a public official involving a public figure,” Otero said. He didn’t issue an immediate ruling.

(excerpt)

[Right_in_Virginia]

Judge appears likely to toss Stormy Daniels' defamation suit against Trump
CBS News, Sep 25, 2018

A federal judge appeared poised Monday to toss out a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump by porn actress Stormy Daniels. Judge S. James Otero said in U.S. District Court that a tweet the president wrote in April appears to be "rhetorical hyperbole" and speech protected under the First Amendment.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued Trump in April after he said a composite sketch of a man she said threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with the real estate mogul was a "con job."

Trump tweeted that the man was "nonexistent" and that Daniels was playing the "fake news media for fools." He retweeted a side-by-side photo comparing the sketch with a photo of Daniels' husband.

Otero said he would rule later, but that Trump's statement seemed like an opinion and speech protected under the First Amendment.

"To allow the complaint to go forward and to have one consider this to be defamatory in the context it was made would have a chilling effect," Otero said.

Attorney Ken White who blogs about the case and talks about it on the podcast "All the President's Lawyers" said he thinks Otero wrote a tentative ruling that he would finalize and issue soon.

If Daniels' defamation case if thrown out it would be similar to a ruling by a New York state judge who dismissed a lawsuit by a political strategist who claimed her reputation was trashed when Trump falsely said she had "begged" for a campaign job and called her a "dummy" on Twitter, White said.

"The court basically said, 'It's Trump, it's Twitter, he known for throwing around insults and this can't be understood as anything other than exaggerated rhetoric,'" White said of the New York case.

Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said outside court that he would appeal if the defamation suit was dismissed.


More:  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-appears-likely-to-toss-stormy-daniels-defamation-suit-against-trump/

[endicom]

Turning a corner? If Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti become bad memories and Brett Kavanaugh goes to SCOTUS then it will seem we've turned a corner and onto a better street.

 

[Bigun]

Turning a corner? If Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti become bad memories and Brett Kavanaugh goes to SCOTUS then it will seem we've turned a corner and onto a better street.

I'm ready!

[WarmPotato]

Why does that whore even matter?