A New York judge ruled Tuesday that while Donald Trump's limited vocabulary was used to make demeaning comments about a GOP political consultant on Twitter, what he said did not veer into defamation territory.
Cheri Jacobus filed a $4 million suit against Trump in April, saying her business was harmed after Trump tweeted negative things about her. Jacobus was briefly engaged in talks with the Trump campaign, but never signed on to work with the team, and later publicly spoke about the race. On Feb. 5, Trump blasted Jacobus, calling her "really dumb." He said she went "hostile" after he "turned her down twice," and ended his tweet on a high note: "Major loser, zero credibility!"
Judge Barbara Jaffe ruled that Trump's tweets were opinion, and could not be measured as factual. It was important to take into context the "heated rhetoric" during a "particularly raucous Republican primary," she wrote in a 20-page ruling, and acknowledged that "truth itself has been lost in the cacophony of online and Twitter verbiage to such a degree that it seems to roll off the consciousness like water off a duck's back." She minced no words when it came time to describe Trump's greatest hits of Twitter burns, calling his constant use of "loser," "total loser," and "totally biased loser" a sign his account is "rife with vague and simplistic insults."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jay Butterman, an attorney for Jacobus, said the ruling gave Trump — who as of Election Day had 75 lawsuits open — a "free pass to trample on the rights of free speech of any critic," and will be appealed. "[This is] a say day for free speech, a sad day for freedom of the press, and a sad day for democracy," he told USA Today.
-
Political cartoons for November 29Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include Kash Patel's travel perks, believing in Congress, and more
-
Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
-
Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
