Bill Maher, HBO Hit With Laura Loomer Defamation Lawsuit After Donald Trump Relationship Joke

Political activist Laura Loomer, who has a reputation as a prominent right-wing personality, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Bill Maher and Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO “for broadcasting with actual malice” suggestions that she “has committed adultery with President Donald Trump” on a recent edition of Real Time With Bill Maher, her lawyer Larry Klayman said on Tuesday.

Klayman, a former federal prosecutor and former candidate for the U.S. Senate in Florida known for numerous lawsuits he filed against Bill Clinton’s presidential administration, unveiled the defamation complaint, arguing that the defendants were “broadcasting with actual malice that Republican female conservative activist Laura Loomer has committed adultery with President Donald Trump.”

The complaint has been filed in the Florida district “where Ms. Loomer ran for U.S. Congress and has strong roots and has a community reputation as a respected moral figure,” according to a statement, which also noted that she is seeking $150 million plus punitive damages.

The legal filing quotes comments that Maher made on the Sept. 13 edition of Real Time on HBO this way: “I think maybe Laura Loomer is in an arranged relationship to affect the election because she’s very close to Trump. She’s 31, looks like his type. We did an editorial here a few years ago … it was basically, who’s Trump f***ing? Because, I said, you know, it’s not nobody. He’s been a dog for too long, and it’s not Melania. I think we may have our answer this week. I think it might be Laura Loomer.”

The lawsuit calls these comments “false, malicious and defamatory” before going into more details.

“Ms. Loomer has been a strong advocate for President Donald Trump in her profession as a conservative activist and investigative journalist over the past decade,” Klayman said in a statement. “Ms. Loomer promotes individual freedoms, strong national security, secure and closed borders, and constitutional conservative values generally, all of which are in league with President Trump’s pro-American policies and agenda. Accordingly, she became a target of Bill Maher and Home Box Office, both of whom advocate for Democrat Party officials and values. They attacked Ms. Loomer with defamatory statements as a vehicle to harm President Trump and his campaign for the presidency of the United States, and to harm Ms. Loomer’s credibility. Bill Maher is a known Trump hater.”