Michael Flynn takes defamation case to Florida high court

Main: Michael Flynn appearing on the Huckabee Today in September 2024 (TBN). Inset: Rick Wilson (Lincoln Project/YouTube).

Michael Flynn is asking the Florida Supreme Court to review a defamation lawsuit he brought against political strategist and Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson, who accused the former national security adviser to Donald Trump of being a “Putin employee” as well as the leader of the conspiratorial QAnon movement.

Flynn initiated the appeal Wednesday by filing a notice with the state’s high court after the dismissal of his case was affirmed by an appellate court last month. The trial court and three-judge panel on the Second District Court of Appeals both reasoned that Wilson’s statements were protected by the First Amendment. Flynn’s motion for the case to be reheard by the full slate of judges on the appeals court was denied.

At the initial stage of the filing, Flynn is not required to present his arguments to the Sunshine State’s highest court.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the crux of Flynn’s complaint involved two tweets from Wilson, one of which referred to the retired general as “Putin employee Mike Flynn,” and another in which Wilson retweeted a post that stated “FYI, Mike Flynn is Q.” The latter post was referring to Flynn being the “purported government insider with a high-level security clearance who began posting cryptic messages in 2017 about the deep state trying to destroy the president.”

Flynn’s suit sought $50 million in damages as well as a permanent injunction barring Wilson from continuing to defame him.