President Donald Trump’s MAGA queen can’t seem to get a win.
A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday tossed out a defamation lawsuit filed by far-right influencer Laura Loomer against Bill Maher, who joked on TV that the two-time failed congressional candidate had a sexual relationship with the 79-year-old president.
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr., who was appointed in 2000 by then-President Bill Clinton, said any “reasonable” viewer would have understood Maher’s comment was a joke.
“The Court having reviewed the motion, response, reply, record evidence, and being otherwise advised in the premises, concludes that Defendants’ motion should be granted because Plaintiff does not establish the elements of a false statement, malice, and damages as a matter of law,” the judge said in his order.
Loomer, a right-wing influencer with nearly 2 million followers on X, shared her reaction to the ruling in a statement posted on the platform, blasting the ruling as “factually and legally wrong.”
“Maher and HBO defamed me per se by publishing that I ‘f--ked the president’ for simply traveling on an airplane to a Presidential debate and expressing my adoration for President Trump and his MAGA Agenda,” the proud self-described Islamophobe wrote.
“It is beyond the pale for any judge to say that a woman can be accused of having sex with a man and have it be brushed off as ‘a joke’ just because she proclaimed a platonic love for thier [sic] politics and leadership style,” Loomer, a prominent MAGA voice whom Trump has called a “very nice person” and “a patriot,” continued. “The ruling is totally dishonest and misogynistic.”
“It’s truly an attack on women and the truth,” she concluded.
The Daily Beast reached out to Maher and HBO for comment.
Loomer, 32, sued Maher, 70, and HBO for $150 million in October 2024 after the late-night host joked that she and Trump had an “arranged relationship” during a September 2024 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher.
“I think maybe Laura Loomer’s in an arranged relationship to affect the election because she’s very close to Trump,” Maher said in the Sept. 13, 2024, episode. “She’s 31, looks like his type. We did an editorial here a few years ago... it was basically, who’s Trump f--king?”
“Because I said, you know, it’s not nobody,” he continued. “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 conspiracy theorist alleged in her complaint, filed in Sumter County, Florida, that Maher had made “false, malicious, and defamatory” statements about her on television, and that her job prospects at the White House were hampered by the late-night host’s comments.
However, Loomer testified at her deposition—during which she also bizarrely alleged that Marjorie Taylor Greene puts Arby’s roast beef in her pants—that her own controversial opinions were to blame for her failed administration ambitions.
“In March of 2023, she had a private meeting with President Trump and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, at which President Trump purportedly instructed Wiles to offer Plaintiff a position on his campaign,” the judge wrote. “The offer was withdrawn after it was reported in April 2023, that the President’s aides ‘feared that hiring Ms. Loomer, who has a long history of bigoted remarks, would set off a backlash.’”
The judge also noted the influencer’s well-documented closeness with the president, including her testimony that she had visited Mar-a-Lago “at least 20-30 times” and public videos she posted where she said “I love you” to the married 79-year-old, among other examples.
Maher testified that he “made a joke based on their sudden closeness in the news that week,” which the judge noted had also been reported by publications such as The Miami New Times and OK! Magazine near the time of the episode’s airing in September 2024.
Katherine Bolger, the renowned First Amendment and media attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP, represented Maher and HBO in the case.
