First lady Melania Trump filed a motion for sanctions on Tuesday against journalist Michael Wolff.
Wolff unsuccessfully sued Melania Trump to keep her from suing him for $1 billion for alleged defamatory statements he made about her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. Earlier this year, a federal judge tossed Wolff’s lawsuit against the first lady, calling it a "contorted" effort and "not how the federal courts work."
Melania Trump is now seeking costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred in these proceedings, along with other appropriate relief, saying Wolff’s lawsuit was "a fundraising drive and a political spectacle."
Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, feels sanctions are warranted for at least three independent reasons. Brito accused Wolff of manufacturing a jurisdictional dispute in an attempt to keep the case in New York state court, using litigation for improper purposes and making a "frivolous" claim.
"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. They should pay for Mrs. Trump’s fees and expenses incurred for the process they abused," the first lady’s legal team claims.
The first lady’s legal team said Wolff wrongly claimed she was heavily involved in the Epstein scandal. Her team sent a pre-action notice under Florida’s anti-defamation law identifying defamatory statements and demanding a retraction and apology. According to the court filing, Wolff never answered the demand letter, instead filing the unsuccessful lawsuit against Melania Trump.
"Plaintiff filed a patently meritless lawsuit and used it to harass Mrs. Trump in public. The requested sanctions do not depend on a ruling that Plaintiff’s statements were defamatory. They rest on the unsupported and mischaracterized federal submissions, the use of those papers for improper purposes, counsel’s multiplication of the federal proceedings, and the Court’s findings that the action itself was abusively presented as textbook bad-faith forum-shopping. Those independent grounds support sanctions against Plaintiff and his counsel," the first lady’s legal team argued.
Wolff, a controversial author known in media circles for his divisive reporting ethics, has written four bestsellers about the president: "Fire and Fury," "Siege," "Landslide," and "All or Nothing."
The first lady has denied any association with Epstein, who died behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges. His death was reported as a suicide.
DAILY BEAST APOLOGIZES TO MELANIA TRUMP OVER RETRACTED EPSTEIN ALLEGATIONS ARTICLE
The Daily Beast retracted an article last summer called "Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author," that was based on an interview with Wolff, after the outlet received a letter from Brito.
Wolff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.