Posted on 11/19/2021 7:16:10 PM PST by 11th_VA
President Joe Biden could face a civil defamation suit from newly-acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse for calling him a “white supremacist” last year — without evidence, and before Biden was able to enjoy the immunities of presidential office.
Rittenhouse was, by then, a “public figure” for the purposes of defamation law, and would have to show that any defendant acted with “actual malice” — that is, with reckless disregard for the truth. He could arguably do so for Biden’s false statement.
When Biden made the now-infamous, and false, claim about Rittenhouse at the end of last September, more than a month had gone by since the Aug. 25, 2020 shootings for which Rittenhouse had been charged within days. Even then it was clear that no evidence existed to substantiate the media’s initial claim that he was a “white supremacist” — a claim his legal counsel at the time denied on Aug. 28, 2020, and reiterated in a subsequent interview with Breitbart News Sunday on SiriusXM Patriot 125.
Typically, presidents are immune from civil lawsuits for torts alleged to have taken place during their time in office. But as the infamous case of Paula Jones’s sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton showed, presidents are not immune from suit for torts committed prior to their taking office. Biden could therefore be sued by Rittenhouse...
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I’m your huckleberry.
“Rittenhouse was, by then, a “public figure” for the purposes of defamation law, and would have to show that any defendant acted with “actual malice” — that is, with reckless disregard for the truth. He could arguably do so for Biden’s false statement.”
He may have been a “public figure”, but he was a 17 year old “public figure” at the time that this happened. That may put an entirely different spin on things. BTW I believe that he turned 18 on January 3rd.
KA-CHING
I cannot really comment honestly because if I were to really express myself out here I would be forever kicked off of FR.
So I just stand by, mostly.
.
Chris Wallace / FOX used Rittenhouse to pummel Trump during the Presidential debate. Chris Wallace characterized the Kenosha arrest as White Supremacists and white Militia.
It was Chris Wallace leading the Mob, and he’s the Moderator of the 2024 Presidential Debates, and he’ll do it again, that’s why they pay him.
Take some of his Chinese money.
What do you mean it’s far more complex?
Quite telling when the ‘President’ opts to go have his colonoscopy to buy a bit more time before he has to answer questions concerning the idiotic statement he made last year.
Was Nicholas Sandmann a public figure?
Don’t forget to sue that fat sow Whoopi Goldberg and countless other TV mean idiots.
HA! Great image. Thanks for the laugh.
Yes he was. I saw him on nightly tv being roasted for “smirking” with an “Indian” beating his drum right in front of his face.
Simply someone being accused of a crime isn’t enough to make them a public figure.
A public figure is one who had assumed a role of special prominence in the affairs of a society or thrust themselves into the forefront of particular public controversies. It can also be involuntary if someone has gained fame or notoriety.
So in same cases the media can create a public figure through their reporting and then be covered by the protection of NY Times v. Sullivan.
Gertz v. Welsh, 418 U.S. 323 (1974) and Dameron v. Washington Magazine, Inc., 575 F. Supp. 1575 (D.D.C. 1983) have more information on the public figure doctrine.
I was thinking the same thing. The logic seems to be “everyone was defaming him. Since everyone was doing it, that made him a public figure. Therefore nobody was defaming him.”
Maybe Sidney Powell could file it, just because libs love her so much.
he voluntarily gave up his phone AND unlocked it for them!
if there was one SINGLE thing on there, with even a shadow of a doubt that might have been considered racsis in ANY way, the Persecution would would have had it up front, BIGLY!!!
and they dint...
What happens if the lawsuit takes place, and the defense says “Not guilty by reason of insanity?”
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