Saturday, October 20, 2018

Judge dismisses defamation suit against Trump

By now you have probably heard that a U.S. District Judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Stormy Daniels against Donald Trump based on a “tweet” in which Trump suggested Daniels lied. 

The judge concluded that the tweet "constitutes 'rhetorical hyperbole', and that because the tweet displays “an incredulous tone,” it was not meant to be understood as a “literal statement about the plaintiff."

You be the judge.  The statement in question is this:  "A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!"

Does that sound to be a statement of fact, an opinion or a rhetorical hyperbole?  Do you think reasonable people would disagree about the answer to that question?

The judge also found that Daniels failed to show that Trump "acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth," which is ironic since Trump is famous for having reckless disregard for the truth.

NPR has more about the court's ruling here.  Politico has more here.

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