A federal judge appears inclined to toss out a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump by porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Judge S. James Otero said in a Los Angeles courtroom that a tweet the president wrote in April appears to be “rhetorical hyperbole” and protected speech.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued Trump in April after he said a composite sketch of a man she says threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with him was a “con job.”
Trump says the man was “nonexistent” and that Daniels was playing the “fake news media for fools.”
Otero says Trump’s statement seems like opinion and speech that is protected under the First Amendment. He will rule later.
Otero scheduled hearings in December to discuss Trump’s efforts to dismiss another lawsuit by Daniels over a hush-money agreement related to their alleged affair.
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