Donald Trump’s wife Melania is seeking to penalize author Michael Wolff. The latter characterizes this step as an effort to “punish” him for dragging her into court. The First Lady filed a sanctions motion on Tuesday, seeking legal fees from the biographer. This happened even though a federal judge had already dismissed his case and urged both sides to stand down.
Michael Wolff claims Melania Trump is punishing him
Michael Wolff argues that the sanctions push reveals a broader strategy. Speaking on the “Inside Trump’s Head” podcast, he branded the tactic “Trump law in a nutshell.” He described it as a pattern of using the legal system to delay, exhaust, and intimidate opponents rather than resolve disputes swiftly.
The confrontation traces back to last October, when Wolff sued Donald Trump’s wife Melania in New York through an anti-SLAPP action. Such suits aim to shield free speech from legal threats. Wolff filed his suit after the First Lady threatened a $1 billion lawsuit against him.
Wolff’s case, however, ran into procedural trouble. Melania’s attorneys transferred it to federal court, asserting she lived in Florida, not New York. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee and Federalist Society member, ultimately threw the lawsuit out in May. She ruled that Wolff had acted prematurely by filing before Melania formally sued him.
The lawsuit did not end there. When Melania’s team notified the court earlier this month about seeking sanctions, Judge Vyskocil openly questioned the wisdom of continuing, adding that litigants often fail to weigh the cost and burden of such motions (via Courthouse News Service).
On Tuesday, they submitted a 26-page motion demanding that Wolff and his legal team cover expenses tied to what they labelled a “patently meritless lawsuit.” Wolff offered a different interpretation on his podcast. He claimed a White House source told him the lawsuit blindsided Melania and her legal team, scaring “the bejesus out of” them. He now predicts Judge Vyskocil will reject the sanctions motion, triggering an appeal to the Second Circuit, a likely loss there, and an eventual petition to the Supreme Court.
“But the larger point is that they will have added months and months and months to the legal calendar… and countless expense. So that is… Trump law in a nutshell—delay, harass, intimidate, exhaust, and avoid… testifying at all costs,” he stated.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
