Melania Trump won the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by author Michael Wolff after a federal judge said he tried to head off a potential billion-dollar defamation action before it was filed. In a 45-page ruling, US district judge Mary Kay Vyskocil threw out Wolff’s case and said the dispute had been presented in a “somewhat contorted posture.”
Vyskocil said Wolff’s claim under anti-Slapp statutes was “preemptive” and that he was asking for special treatment by trying to litigate the matter out of order. “The plaintiff asks for a declaration that, if the first lady sues him, he deserves to win. That is not how the federal courts work,” she wrote, adding that the parties must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else. Wolff filed the suit last year after the first lady demanded an apology for his comments on the administration’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The dispute traces back to comments Wolff made in the media about Melania Trump and Epstein-related files, and to a threatened defamation suit that had not yet been filed when Wolff went to federal court in New York. Vyskocil said the case amounted to “textbook bad-faith forum shopping” because Wolff filed first in New York before Trump had brought her defamation suit in Florida. She also said the federal court had jurisdiction but was declining to exercise it, calling the outcome simple.
Trump, who has said the lies linking her to Epstein must stop immediately, responded sharply to the allegations. “The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” she 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. I have never been friends with Epstein.”
Nick Clemens, speaking for Wolff, said he “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 judge’s ruling leaves Trump free to pursue her own defamation case if she chooses, and signals that the court will not let Wolff force an early fight over claims that have not yet been tested in the usual way. For now, the legal edge in the dispute belongs to Trump.
