Trump scores win over Stormy Daniels’ libel suit
An appeals court the president often pillories hands him victory over a prominent foe
By JOSH GERSTEIN 07/31/2020 03:56 PM EDT
FTA
President Donald Trump scored a legal victory Friday as a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling tossing out a libel lawsuit filed against him by adult film star Stormy Daniels over a tweet Trump fired off about her in 2018.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted arguments by Trumps lawyers that he was merely offering his opinion and not leveling any factual claims of his own when he issued the tweet casting doubt on her claims that she faced intimidation as she prepared to go public with allegations that she and Trump had a sexual encounter.
Stormy Daniels. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By JOSH GERSTEIN
07/31/2020 03:56 PM EDT
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President Donald Trump scored a legal victory Friday as a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling tossing out a libel lawsuit filed against him by adult film star Stormy Daniels over a tweet Trump fired off about her in 2018.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted arguments by Trumps lawyers that he was merely offering his opinion and not leveling any factual claims of his own when he issued the tweet casting doubt on her claims that she faced intimidation as she prepared to go public with allegations that she and Trump had a sexual encounter.
A three-judge panel unanimously ruled that Trumps tweet amounted to an opinion about another Twitter users message suggesting that a sketch Daniels helped prepare of a man who allegedly intimidated her in a casino parking lot looked much like a photo of Daniels ex-husband.
A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)! Trump commented as he retweeted a earlier message containing the two images.
The 9th Circuit judges said that was not enough to the sustain the suit in which Daniels whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford accused Trump of damaging her reputation by painting her as a liar.
Viewed through the eyes of an objectively reasonable reader, the tweet here reflects Mr. Trumps opinion about the implications of the allegedly similar appearances of Ms. Cliffords ex-husband and the man in the sketch, the court said in its nine-page ruling, which indicated no specific author. Because the tweet juxtaposing the two images was displayed immediately below Mr. Trumps tweet, the reader was provided with the information underlying the allegedly defamatory statement and was free to draw his or her own conclusions.
Great ad:
Ryan Fournier
@RyanAFournier
Obama and Biden dont want voters to see this. Lets see if we can get at least 10K retweets on it.
11:47 AM · Jul 31, 2020
https://twitter.com/RyanAFournier/status/1289271373068529665?s=20