First Lady Melania Trump filed a motion for sanctions Tuesday against journalist Michael Wolff after he unsuccessfully sued her to block her $1 billion defamation lawsuit.
Wolff had claimed Melania was heavily involved in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Her team sent a pre-action notice demanding retraction, but Wolff ignored it and filed the failed lawsuit instead. A federal judge tossed Wolff’s case earlier this year, calling it a “contorted” effort and “not how the federal courts work.”
Melania’s legal team says sanctions are warranted because Wolff manufactured a jurisdictional dispute to keep the case in New York state court, used litigation for improper purposes, and made frivolous claims lacking evidentiary support. The First Lady is seeking costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees, arguing Wolff’s lawsuit was a fundraising drive and political spectacle.
“Plaintiff and his counsel asserted a legally frivolous claim, propped it up with factual contentions that lacked any evidentiary support, and used them to run a political and commercial campaign,” the filing states.
