Defamation is an area of law that provides a civil remedy when someone's words end up causing harm to your reputation or your livelihood. Libel is a written or published defamatory statement, while slander is defamation that is spoken by the defendant. (NOLO)
I’m sure you know the story but just in case you missed it you can read about it here.
“I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way,” he told the New Yorker adding that “she was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody.”
While this just proves what we already know there’s no defamation there. However he stumbled into hazardous legal territory on both Fox News and in a tweet:
You can watch him telling Laura Ingraham that he forced Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch out because she was corrupt here.
Or here:
There are two elements in what Rudy said and tweeted that are mind boggling:
1) How is it possible that the personal attorney to the president is able to force a United States ambassador to be recalled?
- We know the answer to this one is “well, duh” since we have a president who heeds advice from the likes of Sean Hannity.
2) How does this slime ball lawyer who makes six million dollars a year working in his law firm have the meshuga chutzpa to hand Yovanovitch such an easy defamation case for both libel and slander?
Is Rudy similar to his godfather? Does this consigliere combine being crazy with being arrogant. Like I put it this appears to be meshuga chutzpah for a lawyer who should know better. Is it possible that Rudy is so sure of himself he thinks he can defame anyone with legal impunity or has he gone cray cray.
Update: I just heard on MSNBC that Rudy is saying he has proof she has perjured himself. If he has such proof he would have to reveal it in a lawsuit.