Why AOC and Gavin Newsom Can’t Be Sued for Defamation

Because truth is the best legal defense

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

How often do any of you follow conservative news sources?

If any of the countless (but no doubt sincere) ad reads you see on YouTube or Substack for Ground News are any indication, many of you have been nudged into adopting a more politically diverse news diet so that you can more clearly suss out the bias inherent in any media source. For instance, you might see coverage of Ro Khanna putting Congress to a vote on the Epstein list framed as “Democrats wanting to release CSAM” by a far right commentator like Tim Pool… but a more left-leaning source might frame it as “Republicans voted against releasing the Epstein list.”

But you might also see a few stories in conservative-leaning outlets that you won’t see in left-leaning ones… like, for example, the amplification of a recent story that Donald Trump may have grounds to sue Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for defamation.

For context, once the Trump DoJ came out and claimed that there was no Epstein list, AOC took to Twitter and said the following:

“Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?”

Yeah… I wonder why…

This is quite an incendiary statement, and one that definitely feels pointed in a way that Donald Trump could respond to in some way. After all, it’s directly accusing the president of the United States, without wishy-washy words like “alleged” or “reported” of being a RAPIST. So according to Fox News, Donald Trump has grounds to sue AOC “into bankruptcy.” Right? After all, as the Fox News article points out, ABC recently had to settle a suit with Trump for $16 million when George Stephanopoulos stated he had been liable for rape. Open and shut?

Not quite.

Aside from the fact that nowhere in AOC’s tweet does she identify him, Donald Trump was indeed held civilly liable for the sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll in 2023. That is the truth. Speaking literally, he has been held liable for rape - and the description of him as a rapist, from AOC, could be seen as accurate. As Presiding Judge Kaplan over the case stated, "The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was 'raped' within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump 'raped' her as many people commonly understand the word 'rape. Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that."

But there’s also the fact that it is notoriously VERY hard for a celebrity to sue somebody in the United States. According to Hepworth Legal, defamation “involves the communication of a false statement that causes harm to someone’s reputation. For the average person, proving defamation requires showing that a false statement was made to others and that it caused harm or damages.” However, it gets much trickier when it comes to public figures, since they have to prove something known as “actual malice” - “that the statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth. This standard is meant to allow for open and robust debates about public figures who influence society, but it also makes it much more difficult for these individuals to succeed in defamation suits.”

Due to the “actual malice” requirement, this would make Trump seriously suing AOC for stating something that, legally speaking, he is considered, would likely not go well for him. That’s not to say that he won’t still sue her, but the discovery process for a potential trial would open the doors to far more scrutiny than I believe Donald Trump desires - especially when he’s already being as dodgy as he is in regards to his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

Believe it or not, the same rule may even apply to California Governor Gavin Newsom, who recently called Stephen Miller a “fascist cuck” on Twitter. Now, aside from the fact that most defamation cases aren’t actually about frivolous name-calling, let’s just say Miller wanted to interpret this in the worst way possible. Considering the rumors that his wife Katie Miller left not only the Trump Administration, but HIM to be with Elon Musk, this could be a way for him to clear he and Katie’s names and prove, once and for all, that he is not a fascist cuck and merely just a fascist.

The truth is that it is incredibly unlikely that despite the chorus of MAGA faithfuls screaming at Trump and Miller to sue their enemies, they likely will not. Aside from the fact that it will assuredly activate The Streisand Effect in the worst ways possible, there is likely far too much at stake, professionally AND reputationally, for these men to risk the truth getting out. And therefore, Donald Trump was held civilly liable for rape. Katie Miller left Stephen behind for greener pastures with Elon Musk. These are the words of AOC and Gavin Newsom - and likely the truth.

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