Reply #4: He can threaten to sue all he wants

[Clark2008]

If a newspaper reports the statements of something someone has said in an open and public forum - and I would venture that the minority party of the House Judiciary Committee's forum is just about as open a public forum as it gets - then the offended party has no remedy to sue the reporting institutions.

Feeney could still sue Curtis for slander, given his statements, but there is no way in hell the newspaper is resposible for what was said in a public forum - a forum in which everyone in the country could have attended if they had so wanted.

Basic Communications law. I'm not an attorney, but I was a reporter and actually had a similar thing happen. The difference was that it was testimony in a court of law rather than in a congressional "court," but the same rule applies.