Did Trump commit defamation against HRC?

[Shankapotomus]

Trump: "What she did is very criminal…"

Is it defamation to publicly accuse someone of a crime before they have been formally charged?

Can she or her campaign sue?

"To recover in a libel or slander suit, the plaintiff must show evidence of four elements: that the defendant conveyed a defamatory message; that the material was published, meaning that it was conveyed to someone other than the plaintiff; that the plaintiff could be identified as the person referred to in the defamatory material; and that the plaintiff suffered some injury to his or her reputation as a result of the communication."

"To prove that the material was defamatory, the plaintiff must show that at least one other person who saw or heard it understood it as having defamatory meaning. It is necessary to show not that all who heard or read the statement understood it to be defamatory, but only that one person other than the plaintiff did so. Therefore, even if the defendant contends that the communication was a joke, if one person other than the plaintiff took it seriously, the communication is considered defamatory."

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Libel+and+Slander

[sufrommich]

1. Sue for defamation during a political campaign?

As likely as pigs flying.The Hillary campaign is too smart to give Trump any legitimacy by taking him seriously.

[Shankapotomus]

2. Okay

I'm no legal expert on this stuff but thought I would at least call attention to it just in case. Thanks.

Generally, though, is accusing someone of a crime that never goes to trial litigable? Because now that I think of it, Trump was accusing the President's deceased mother of falsifying public records and that never went to trial.

[Travis_0004]

6. I agree with the others person

In politics, that is very very mild. Also truth is a defense to libel. Trump said the she broke a law. If it can be proven that she broke the smallest of laws at all during the email thing, then Trump couldn't be sued at all.

Also, famous people, like politicans, and even movie stars have a higher threshold. They would have to prove that defamatory statements were made with actual malice, in most cases.

But as the other person said, you could probably find a case of defamation every single time every candidate hits the campaign trail, but politicans generally just move on. If Hilary were to sue, she would seem petty. My reaction would be 'don't run for president if you can't handle that'

[COLGATE4]

3. Hillary is what is known in the Law as a "public person".

As such, her ability for to sue for defamation is extremely limited (NYTimes v Sullivan). Aside from the legalities, her suing Trump would only give him even more of the attention he craves. A bad idea all the way around.

[Vattel]

4. What crime does Trump allege Clinton committed?

It is not clear that someone who, like Trump, is mentally incompetent can knowingly tell a falsehood. (Where the plaintiff is a public figure like Clinton, there is the additional requirement that the defendant knew that what he said was false or likely to be false.)

[cali]

5. no, not to mention that even if could, she shouldn't. talk about putting a spotlight on

something she wants to disappear