Accused of ‘outrageous and unfounded attacks’ on SCOTUS chief justice, pro-Trump lawyer stands by claims
L. Lin Wood Jr. in March 2020. Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian via Wikimedia Commons.
A defamation defendant is pointing to a “barrage of false and violent tweets” by pro-Trump lawyer L. Lin Wood Jr. in a bid to oust him from a case in New York federal court.
The defendant, MSNBC anchor Joy Reid, contends that the court should revoke Wood’s pro hac vice status, which allows him to represent the defamation plaintiff as an out-of-state lawyer. But Wood is standing by his online claims, Politico reports.
Wood’s suit accuses Reid of defaming his client, Roslyn La Liberte, in social media posts.
In a Feb. 9 affidavit, Wood says he has exercised his right of free speech to support former President Donald Trump and honest elections and to oppose pedophilia and child sex trafficking. He also claims to have credible evidence to support his allegations, including wild and unsubstantiated claims made about U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Wood also defends his post about the execution of then-Vice President Mike Pence as “protected rhetoric and political hyberbole.” He also claims to have “credible evidence to support the truth of my description of former Vice President Pence as a traitor.”
Neither Roberts nor Pence has made any retraction demands regarding the social media posts, Wood says.
And he accuses the lawyer seeking his ouster of cherry-picking his social media posts. Wood says he writes about a wide variety of topics, including his rescue puppies.
Wood’s pro hac vice status has been revoked in a different case, filed in Delaware. The judge said he was removing Wood because he “exhibited a toxic stew of mendacity, prevarication and surprising incompetence” in election litigation outside Delaware. Wood says he thinks the decision was political, and it is being appealed.
The State Bar of Georgia recently asked Wood to take a mental health examination, but he refused. Wood told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his doctors concluded that he is of sound mind.
The lawyer asking the judge to revoke Wood’s pro had vice admission in the New York case is John Reichman.
In a Jan. 25 legal memorandum supporting his request, Reichman says Wood has made “outrageous and unfounded attacks” on Roberts, filed frivolous election lawsuits, and unleashed a “barrage of false and violent tweets” that got him kicked off Twitter.
In a Jan. 25 declaration, Reichman lists as evidence several posts by Wood on social media sites. They include:
• Pence is a “TRAITOR, a Communist Sympathizer & a Child Molester.”
• “If Pence is arrested, @SecPompeo will save the election. Pence will be in jail awaiting trial for treason. He will face execution by firing squad. He is a coward & will sing like a bird & confess ALL.”
• “Vice President Pence must resign today. Pence is on videos captured by FBI. Discussions about murdering judges. Roberts was involved. So was Hillary Clinton.”
• “Justice Scalia learned of the plan to kill members of the judiciary. He reported it to the White House. Shortly thereafter, Justice Scalia was murdered.“
• “Chief Justice John Roberts must resign today. Over the past several weeks, I have met with a courageous whistleblower who has risked his life to tell you the truth. Jeffrey Epstein arranged for the adoption of Roberts’ children. Roberts used the children to gain entry into the cabal of power & influence. FBI, Rod Rosenstein and Crowdstrike knew it all.”
• “Patriots are praying tonight that @realDonaldTrump will impose martial law in disputed states, seize voting machines for forensic examination, & appoint @SidneyPowell1 as special counsel to investigate election fraud.”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Oops! Lawyer files election lawsuit ‘under plenty of perjury’”
ABAJournal.com: “Election lawyers say they can’t be sanctioned if they signed documents in typewritten form”
