A federal judge on Friday threw out Michael Wolff’s lawsuit against Melania Trump, rejecting his effort to head off a $1 billion defamation case before it could begin. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil said Wolff’s bid to stop Trump from suing him was “not how the federal courts work.”
Vyskocil said Wolff showed an “inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship” and wrote that she “will not be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat.” The judge said Wolff and Melania Trump “have a real dispute” and must litigate it “according to the same procedures as everyone else.”
The ruling ends Wolff’s attempt to use federal court to get ahead of the threatened lawsuit. He had sued Trump last October after her lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent him a letter saying she would be “left with no alternative” but to sue if he did not retract statements. Wolff asked a judge to declare that he had not defamed her and to rule that she would be liable for costs, fees and unspecified monetary damages if she followed through with her case.
Wolff first filed in New York state court under an anti-SLAPP law designed to block lawsuits meant to silence critics. Brito later moved the case to federal court and sought to have it dismissed or shifted to federal court in Florida. In a 45-page decision, Vyskocil said the federal court had jurisdiction but declined to exercise it, dismissing the case so the dispute could be litigated like any other.
The fight centers on Wolff’s statements about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. That issue came back into the spotlight in April, when Melania Trump made a statement at the White House denying any affiliation with Epstein and calling out “unfound and baseless lies” about her. She said, “The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” and added that “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect.” She also said, “I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”
Wolff, who has published a dozen books, including four bestsellers about the president, argued in his lawsuit that the Trumps “have made a practice of threatening those who speak against them” with costly legal actions designed to “create a climate of fear in the nation.” Melania Trump’s spokesperson, Nick Clemens, said she “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 dismissal clears the federal case, but it does not end the fight over the underlying claims. Vyskocil’s message was plain: the dispute is real, and it will be tested in the ordinary way.
