Melania Trump has won the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by author Michael Wolff designed to head off a billion-dollar defamation action brought by the first lady over statements he made in the media.
The US district judge Mary Kay Vyskocil said that Wolff’s claim against Trump under anti-Slapp statutes, which are designed to allow defendants to quickly dismiss meritless, intimidating lawsuits, was “preemptive” and presented in a “somewhat contorted posture”.
In a 45-page ruling, Vyskocil said 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.”
Wolff, who has written four books about Donald Trump, filed the lawsuit last year in response to a lawsuit brought by the first lady after she demanded – and failed to receive – an apology for Wolff’s comments on the administration’s handling of files related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Vyskocil, who was appointed by Trump, agreed that Wolff and the first lady “have a real dispute”, but said “they must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else”.
Wolff sued Melania Trump last October after her lawyer, Alejandro Brito, told him in a letter that she would be “left with no alternative” but to sue him if he didn’t retract statements that the lawyer said had caused her “overwhelming reputational and financial harm”.
Vyskocil ruled that Wolff was seeking special treatment by seeking to litigate out of order and accused him of “textbook bad-faith forum shopping” by filing his claim in New York before Trump had filed her defamation suit in Florida.
In that legal effort to establish his statements as non-defamatory, Wolff had won “the race to the courthouse”, Vyskocil wrote, but said he had exhibited an “inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship”.
“The outcome is simple,” Vyskocil continued. “The court will not be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat and so declines to reach the merits here.”
Wolff, who was revealed in justice department files to have had extensive communications with Epstein on the subject of Donald Trump’s first presidential run, initially sued in New York state court, but the defendant’s attorneys had the case transferred to federal court and later sought to have it dismissed or moved to a federal court in Florida.
Vyskocil said that while federal court does have jurisdiction, she was declining to exercise it and “dismisses this case to be litigated like any other”.
Nick Clemens, a spokesperson for Melania Trump, said the first lady “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 decision comes after Melania Trump made a statement at the White House denying any affiliation with Epstein and that she and her lawyers would fight back against “unfound and baseless lies” that she had ties to him.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” the first lady 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.”
She added: “I have never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach.”