The US president has already paid the writer over $5m in damages in the assault and defamation case.
ok, but this is still a weird concept that seems to stretch defamation law beyond what it’s intended for: A claims something negative (X) about B, B says “that is not true”, A then sues B because it’s a defamatory claim that A is lying about X? Do constellations like that happen a lot?
B didn’t just say “that is not true.” B also made a bunch of defamatory statements about A like “A is a liar.”
As part of proving her case for those defamatory statements, A also proved up the truth of her underlying accusations.
You can counter sue for whatever you want, but it’s a losing argument if there is already a judgment against you for the X being decided by a jury or judge on the merits.
It was because it was knowingly false and caused harm to her reputation. That’s the definition of defamation.
It’s quite unusual. It can only really happen when the accusations of lying are provably false.
