Defamation
April 20, 2026 — John Hinderaker
FBI Director Kash Patel has sued the Atlantic magazine and its notorious reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick for libel. Fitzpatrick and the Atlantic alleged that Patel is in danger of losing his job because of excessive drinking and absenteeism. I assume the story was false–just another hit piece from a vicious Democratic Party propaganda outlet–but the complaint is vented in federal court in Washington, D.C. I can’t imagine why Patel’s lawyers would
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December 16, 2025 — John Hinderaker
President Trump has sued the British Broadcasting Corporation for $10 billion. He alleges defamation and violation of a Florida unfair trade practices statute, arising out of the BBC’s deceptive editing of the speech Trump gave to his rally in Washington on January 6, 2017. Disregard the $10 billion–it is meaningless. You can read the Complaint here. All of the commentary I have seen on the lawsuit consists of liberal reporters
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November 20, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Among Donald Trump’s contributions to our public life is the revelation that a politician can, after all, pursue a defamation case successfully. Of course, it can happen only in extreme circumstances, but Trump Derangement Syndrome frequently gives rise to extreme circumstances. And Trump’s haters can’t seem to learn from experience. Thus we have the latest outrage from The View, a television program on which a group of harridans shriek DNC
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September 20, 2025 — John Hinderaker
I was on the U.S. Report on Sky News Thursday evening with James Morrow. We talked about three subjects, all of which I have written about here on Power Line: Donald Trump’s libel case against the New York Times and others, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s pledge to go after “hate speech,” and the growing possibility that the Jeffry Epstein narrative may largely be myth. If those topics sound interesting, here
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September 17, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Donald Trump has sued the New York Times and others for defamation, alleging damages of $15 billion. While the Times has smeared Trump in many ways over the years, this case focuses on a book written by two Times reporters, and related coverage in the newspaper. The book is Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success. Defendants include the Times, Times reporters
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July 26, 2025 — John Hinderaker
I knew and worked with Candace Owens early in her career, and thought highly of her. She is tremendously talented, and in those days was cordial and eager to learn. Maybe she still is, but Candace has left behind one association after another–Turning Point USA, Prager U, the Daily Wire–and now, wholly independent but with millions of followers, she seems to have gone off the deep end. She has largely
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April 22, 2025 — John Hinderaker
In 2017, the New York Times published an outrageous editorial that blamed Sarah Palin for a mass shooting in Arizona in 2011. The editorial, written by Times Editorial Director James Bennet, was obviously libelous. There is zero evidence that the murderer, Jared Loughner, had ever heard of Sarah Palin, let alone being influenced by a map that her political action committee had produced. But that didn’t matter to Bennet, who
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April 4, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Earlier this week, Matt Taibbi was called as a witness by the Republican majority of a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Before his testimony began, Democratic Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove slandered him: Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a Democrat representing California’s 37th district in Los Angeles, began her opening remarks in a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing Tuesday with a comment directed to me. “To distract from the dumpster fire this administration
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March 4, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Today, D.C. Superior Court Judge Alfred Irving ruled on post-trial motions that were made following the trial of Michael Mann’s defamation lawsuit against Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg. The case has been pending in various courts and before various judges for approximately thirteen years, and the motions ruled on today were made almost exactly one year ago. The jury awarded $1 in compensatory damages against both Steyn and Simberg, and
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February 21, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Democratic Party “news” media have been taking a beating lately. This time it is MSNBC and Rachel Maddow, who have just settled a case I hadn’t heard about: NBCUniversal has agreed to settle a $30 million defamation suit filed by a Georgia gynecologist after on-air talents – including Rachel Maddow – falsely labeled him a ‘uterus collector.’ Dr. Mahendra Amin sued in September 2021 after NBCU hosts like MSNBC’s Maddow
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February 8, 2025 — Scott Johnson
Alpha News (on whose board I sit) is among the defendants sued for defamation by Minneapolis Police Department Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell. The claim against Alpha News arises from its posting of The Fall of Minneapolis. The documentary was produced by Liz Collin and based substantially on the reporting Liz did for her book They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and the Death of George Floyd. Liz is the multi-Emmy
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February 4, 2025 — John Hinderaker
In April 2018, the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting was awarded jointly to the New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on the Russia collusion hoax that was concocted by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Subsequently, multiple investigations confirmed that the claim of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia was false and, indeed, a completely unfounded fraud. President Trump and others then called on the Pulitzer Prize
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January 17, 2025 — Scott Johnson
I’ve been following Zachary Young’s defamation lawsuit against CNN through the daily reporting of the Washington Free Beacon’s Jessica Costescu along with Jessica’s X feed here. Young had a strong case with a judge and jury that seemed to see through CNN’s modus operandi. Much of the evidence with which CNN had to contend was internal to CNN. Fast as its lawyer talked, he either couldn’t talk fast enough or
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January 16, 2025 — John Hinderaker
We noted here that CNN and Jake Tapper are on trial in Florida, in a defamation case brought by former serviceman Zachary Young. Young helped people escape from Afghanistan; CNN smeared him as an “illegal profiteer” operating within a “black market.” Apparently it is now conceded that this was false. Young alleges that CNN’s smear destroyed his business. We noted in the post linked above, at the jury selection stage,
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January 7, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Jury selection is under way in Panama City, Florida, where Zachary Young is suing CNN and Jake Tapper for defamation. CNN falsely said that Young, who made efforts to extricate people from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, acted illegally, using a “black market” and charging “exorbitant fees.” It sounds like CNN and Tapper could be in trouble. Responding to voir dire questions from Young’s lawyer, prospective jurors indicated a willingness
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December 14, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Under current law, it is just about impossible to defame a public figure, let alone a politician, let alone Donald Trump. But ABC News and George Stephanopoulos managed the feat, and now they are going to pay: ABC News and star anchor George Stephanopoulos have agreed to pay President-elect Trump $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit. The settlement was publicly filed Saturday, just days before the two sides were
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March 19, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Donald Trump has sued ABC News and host George Stephanopoulos for falsely claiming that Trump was found liable for rape by a court and jury: Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos, claiming his reputation was tarnished by the anchor saying multiple times on-air that Trump had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump filed the lawsuit in federal
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