Comes after NY Supreme Court ruled that defamation lawsuit against The Times can go forward
President Trump congratulated Project Veritas and its founder James O’Keefe on Tuesday following a successful defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.
O’Keefe joined Trump at Mar-a-Lago where the 45th president lauded the undercover media organization’s major win against the fake news outlet after the New York State Supreme Court ruled that O’Keefe’s lawsuit could go forward.
“I want to congratulate Project Veritas on their big win on the New York Times,” Trump said, with O’Keefe beside him.
“Now the suit will continue, and whatever you can do for their legal defense fund, we’re with them all the way. They do incredible work. They find things that nobody would even believe possible. So James, congratulations.”
This comes after Judge Charles Wood ruled in favor of Veritas, stating that they had presented sufficient evidence that The Times may have been motivated by “actual malice” when it ran several hit pieces against the watchdog organization.
“[I]f a writer interjects an opinion in a news article (and will seek to claim legal protections as opinion) it stands to reason that the writer should have an obligation to alert the reader, including a court that may need to determine whether it is factor opinion, that it is opinion,” Wood said in his ruling last week.
Veritas noted on its website that this was the first case The Times lost on a Motion to Dismiss without appeal since 1965.
“This appears to be the first case where the New York Times lost on Motion to Dismiss without appeal, since 1965. AND the FIRST CASE EVER where NYT lost under New York’s new anti-SLAPP laws enacted last year.”
