{"id":1206,"date":"2026-07-12T20:26:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T20:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2026-07-12T20:26:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T20:26:39","slug":"%f0%9f%92%94judge-tosses-wolff-suit-clearing-path-for-1b-melania-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=1206","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udc94Judge Tosses Wolff Suit, Clearing Path For $1B Melania Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in Manhattan dismissed a defamation-related lawsuit brought by journalist Michael Wolff against First Lady Melania Trump on grounds that the filing represented an inappropriate use of the court system.<\/em><\/h4>\n

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, an appointee of President Donald Trump, described the case as a \u201ccontorted\u201d attempt and said it was \u201cnot how federal courts work.\u201d She criticized what she called an \u201cinappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship\u201d and declined to exercise jurisdiction despite acknowledging that both parties have a \u201creal dispute.\u201d Vyskocil dismissed the case so it could \u201cbe litigated like any other,\u201d effectively sending the matter back to ordinary litigation channels.<\/em><\/h4>\n

The dispute originated last year when attorneys for Melania Trump sent Wolff a cease-and-desist letter demanding he remove certain statements about the first lady. The letter warned that failure to comply would leave her with \u201cno alternative\u201d but to pursue legal action. In response, Wolff filed suit against her in New York state court in October. Trump\u2019s legal team, led by attorney Alejandro Brito, successfully transferred the case to federal court.<\/p>\n

In her ruling, Judge Vyskocil noted the unusual procedural posture of the case while emphasizing that federal courts should not be drawn into what she viewed as an abusively presented dispute.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the first lady welcomed the outcome, stating that Melania Trump \u201cis 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.\u201d The first lady\u2019s legal team had previously argued that Wolff\u2019s statements caused her \u201coverwhelming reputational and financial harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melania Trump, 56, has repeatedly and forcefully denied any involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of child sex trafficking. In an April press conference, she declared, \u201cThe lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today.\u201d She added, \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolff\u2019s lawsuit countered that the president and first lady \u201chave made a practice of threatening those who speak against them\u201d with expensive legal actions intended \u201cto silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean-style confessions and apologies.\u201d He argued that certain statements were taken out of context or amounted to protected opinion, including his characterization of the Trumps\u2019 marriage as a \u201csham marriage\u201d or \u201ctrophy marriage,\u201d which he described as \u201cfair and justified.\u201d The filing also stressed that Wolff had never accused the first lady of criminal involvement with Epstein.<\/p>\n

The controversy gained additional attention last summer when The Daily Beast published and later retracted an article titled \u201cMelania Trump \u2018Very Involved\u2019 in Epstein Scandal: Author,\u201d which was based on an interview with Wolff. Following a letter from Brito, the outlet removed the piece. In the original interview, Wolff reportedly clarified that he had described the first lady as being \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d in handling White House matters related to the situation, but not involved in any criminal activity.<\/p>\n

The case has drawn comments from members of Congress. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace praised Melania Trump\u2019s stance, saying she \u201cstands with Epstein victims\u201d and highlighting the first lady\u2019s advocacy for legislation addressing the distribution of fake intimate images. On the Democratic side, Rep. Robert Garcia expressed support for a public hearing, stating, \u201cWe agree with First Lady Melania Trump\u2019s call for a public hearing,\u201d and urged action from congressional leadership. In her April remarks, the first lady had called on Congress to act, saying, \u201cNow is the time for Congress to act,\u201d and encouraging lawmakers to allow victims to testify under oath.<\/p>\n

The dismissal leaves open the possibility for further litigation in state court or other appropriate venues as both sides continue to assert their positions in a long-running public dispute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in Manhattan dismissed a defamation-related lawsuit brought by journalist Michael Wolff against First Lady Melania Trump on grounds that the filing represented an inappropriate use of the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1208,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions\/1208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}