To win a defamation case, the plaintiff must establish five things: 1. that a defamatory statement was made, 2. that the statement was about the plaintiff, 3. that the statement was a matter of fact and not opinion, 4. that the statement was false, and 5. malice, the intention to do harm. The farther we get to the end of that list, the more difficult it may prove to prove.
News agencies don’t claim facts; they report what other people claim as facts. Defamation usually doesn’t become a problem for a news agency unless the agency knows a statement to be false and reports it as truth anyway. Usually, defamation cases should target the false witness, not the news agency or the attorney. But, in the case of the 2020 election machines, targeting Giuliani, Powell, and Fox News looks more like a theatrical stage of a failed sting. Pathological liars don’t give up on the lie when caught, but often dismiss and even accuse whistleblowers of conspiracy. The voting machine companies would seem more credible if they were suing attorneys and news agencies for access to the whistleblowers.
Speaking of whistleblowers, didn’t Democrats establish with the Russianewsgategate scandal that whistleblowers should be protected?
Trump will live at Mar-a-Lago as an employee, which hosts the first ever “Office of the Former President”. Obama holds such a titular office. Trump is the first president to be impeached twice. His post-presidential trial will be held on Tuesday, February 16, only eight days away. Senate Republicans fear convicting him, lest they do even more irreparable damage than their insolvent party has already sustained.