The reason people in public life rarely sue for libel and slander is that the courts have ruled that they are fair game simply because they are in public life or celebrities.. In other words, it comes with the territory.
In order to win, you must prove actual malice. And the Enquier story never said “we have proof.” It repeatedly used the weasel words “rumored”. “allegedly” “supposedly”—the innuendo doing the damage where proof is not forthcoming.
NE isn’t worried about Teddy suing so much as the others involved.
This is just like NE to throw the info out there, wait for the denial, and then slowly show their cards. Sells more copy that way. My speculation is that they’ll play those cards say wednesday or thursday when the next issue is coming out.