Florida Supreme Court nixes Michael Flynn’s defamation claims against Rick Wilson

The Florida Supreme Court has rejected former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s attempt to reinstate his $50 million defamation claim against Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson over comments linking Flynn to Vladimir Putin and the QAnon conspiracy theory.

“This cause having heretofore been submitted to the Court on jurisdictional briefs and portions of the record deemed necessary to reflect jurisdiction under Article V, Section 3(b), Florida Constitution, and the Court having determined that it should decline to accept jurisdiction, it is ordered that the petition for review is denied,” the court said.

“No motion for rehearing will be entertained by the Court,” the justices added. Signing the order were Justices John Couriel, Renatha Francis, Jamie Grosshans, Jorge Labarga, and Meredith Sasso. The decision came down on Wednesday.

“We’re not surprised, given the vast legal weaknesses of this trolling lawfare on their part,” Wilson told the Phoenix by text. “It is gratifying to know that it’s all over.”

The next step, Wilson said, is to seek to recover his legal costs from Flynn. “The process of which started immediately.”

A Sarasota state trial Judge had ruled Wilson’s comments were protected by the First Amendment, and the Florida Second District Court of Appeal affirmed, citing the “profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks.”

Flynn briefly served as national security adviser during Donald Trump’s first term but was fired for allegedly lying to the FBI and Vice President Mike Pence about discussions with the Russian government before Trump took office.

The alleged defamation arose in part from a Wilson post referring to “Putin employee Mike Flynn.” In 2015, the state-sponsored Russia Today television network paid Flynn $45,000 to speak during a dinner in Moscow; a photo shows Flynn seated next to Putin at the event.

Additionally, Wilson retweeted a social media post by podcaster Jim Stewartson reading, “FYI, Mike Flynn is Q.” Flynn argued that QAnon is a terrorist organization and that the reference was defamatory. However, the trial court record notes that Flynn has used the QAnon slogan, “Where we go one, we go all,” and “WWG1WGA,” and authorized sale of merchandize with those slogans.

Courts rejecting Flynn’s lawsuit cited Florida’s SLAPP law, referring to “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” These are actions designed to intimidate or silence critics.

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Michael Moline reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected]