Court Refuses to Toss Defamation Suit Against MSNBC Legal Analyst

We previously discussed the defamation case against NYU Law Professor and MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann. He is being sued by lawyer Stefan Passantino after Weissmann said that he coached former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to “lie” to Congress. At the time, I wrote that “it is hard to see how Weissmann can avoid a trial.” U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan apparently agrees. She just rejected Weissmann’s motion to dismiss the case.

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The controversial former aide to Special Counsel Robert Mueller (and NYU law professor) is being sued after declaring that attorney Stefan Passantino (who represented Hutchinson before Congress) told her to lie.

Ed Morrissey

I read a bit about this at Reason yesterday, too. AliKhan did leave an argument in place for the defense, which is that his position on a commentary platform like MSNBC implies that his statements are opinion rather than declaration of fact. Weissmann will have to sell that to a jury, though, and they may not be inclined to let him hide from categorical declarations made about another attorney's practices. A trial looks a lot more likely at the moment, which means a settlement looks even more likely. 

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