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NEW YORK — <\/span>A judge on Friday threw out author Michael Wolff\u2019s lawsuit against first lady Melania Trump<\/a>, ruling that his \u201ccontorted\u201d attempt to prevent her from suing him for $1 billion over his statements about her and Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> \u201cis not how the federal courts work.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in federal court in Manhattan chided both sides for an \u201cinappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship\u201d and said she \u201cwill not be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat.\u201d<\/p>\n Vyskocil, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, agreed that Wolff and the first lady \u201chave a real dispute,\u201d but said \u201cthey must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolff sued Melania Trump last October after her lawyer, Alejandro Brito, told him in a letter that she would be \u201cleft with no alternative\u201d but to sue him if he didn\u2019t retract statements that the lawyer said had caused her \u201coverwhelming reputational and financial harm.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolff originally filed the lawsuit in state court in New York. Brito then had it transferred to federal court. Vyskocil, in her 45-page decision, said that while federal court does have jurisdiction, she was declining to exercise it and \u201cdismisses this case to be litigated like any other.\u201d<\/p>\n Messages seeking comment were left with the first lady\u2019s office, Brito and Wolff\u2019s lawyer.<\/p>\n In April, Melania Trump made a statement at the White House denying any affiliation with Epstein, the millionaire financier and convicted sex offender who killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.<\/p>\n Reading prepared remarks, the first lady said she and her lawyers were fighting back against \u201cunfound and baseless lies\u201d that suggested she had ties to Epstein.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,\u201d Melania Trump said. \u201cThe individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n In his lawsuit, Wolff argued that the Trumps \u201chave made a practice of threatening those who speak against them\u201d with costly legal actions \u201cto silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean style confessions and apologies.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the threats were \u201cdesigned to create a climate of fear in the nation so that people cannot freely or confidently exercise their First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolff has published a dozen books, including four bestsellers about the president.<\/p>\n Wolff said in the lawsuit that Melania Trump\u2019s threat to sue him was related to statements he made to The Daily Beast and in three social media videos. Some statements were incomplete phrases and were taken out of context, he said.<\/p>\n Others, the lawsuit said, were protected speech. For instance, the statement that the Trumps were in a \u201csham marriage, trophy marriage,\u201d was a \u201cfair and justified\u201d statement of opinion, it said.<\/p>\n The lawsuit noted that Wolff never said Melania Trump was involved in any of Epstein\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n In July 2025, after receiving a letter from Brito, The Daily Beast retracted an article titled, \u201cMelania Trump \u2018Very Involved\u2019 in Epstein Scandal: Author,\u201d that was based on an interview with Wolff.<\/p>\n Wolff, in his lawsuit, said his comments pertained to the first lady\u2019s \u201cinvolvement\u201d last year managing the matter \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d at the White House \u2014 not that she was involved in any of Epstein\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n Among other statements Wolff said were true were those his comments about Melania Trump meeting Donald Trump in Epstein\u2019s social circle, and that Donald Trump liked to have sex with his friend\u2019s wives and first slept with Melania Trump on Epstein\u2019s private jet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n