You can’t sue Donald J. Trump for tweeting that you’re a “real dummy!” and a “major loser” with “zero credibility” — or for saying you ”begged” him for a job on his presidential campaign when you insist you didn’t.
That’s what a New York appeals court ruled in the case of a Republican political strategist who accused Trump of inciting a “virtual mob” against her after she questioned his fitness for office on television last year.
The defamation suit by public-relations specialist Cheryl Jacobus was dismissed in January by New York state court Judge Barbara Jaffe, who said Trump’s “intemperate tweets” were protected opinion, even if they were intended to “belittle and demean.”
A five-judge appeals court panel in Manhattan on Tuesday upheld the ruling. It found that Trump’s statements about Jacobus were “too vague, subjective and lacking precise meaning” to be defamatory, and that a reasonable person would find them to be opinion and not fact.
Trump is also fighting a suit by a former contestant on his “Apprentice” reality TV show who claims the president defamed her by calling her a liar after she accused him of sexual assault. Trump’s lawyers have argued the U.S. Constitution bars him from facing state court suits while he’s in office and that his speech was protected under the First Amendment.
Jacobus had accused Trump of attempting to bully her into silence after she publicly criticized him. She said Trump tried to destroy her career by lying about her on Twitter, telling his millions of followers that she’d “begged” him for a job.
The case is Jacobus v. Trump, 153252/2016, New York Supreme Court, New York County (Manhattan).
