OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS Plaintiff Karen McDougal filed this action asserting a single claim of slander per se after she allegedly was defamed by a segment on the popular program “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which is produced by Defendant Fox News Network, LLC (“Fox News”) and airs on Fox News Channel. Specifically, Ms. McDougal alleges that the host of the show, Tucker Carlson, accused her of extorting now-President Donald J. Trump out of approximately $150,000 in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair between Ms. McDougal and President Trump. After the case was removed from New York state court, Fox News moved to dismiss Ms. McDougal’s claim on the grounds that Mr. Carlson’s statements were not statements of fact and that she failed adequately to allege actual malice. For the reasons stated herein, Fox News’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. BACKGROUND The facts as stated herein are taken from Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint, ECF #27 (“Am. Compl.”), unless otherwise noted, and are assumed to be true for the purposes of this motion.1 Plaintiff Karen McDougal is a former model and actress who originally rose to public attention as a model in Playboy Magazine. Tr. at 19:23-25.2 Ms. McDougal then became the subject of front-page stories following the 2016 United States Presidential Election based on allegations that she had engaged in a year-long affair (from 2006-2007) with now-President Trump. The allegations of an affair arose during the 2018 investigation and guilty plea of Mr. Trump’s lawyer and aide Michael Cohen on charges that he violated federal campaign finance laws. See Am. Compl. 22-29. Specifically, law enforcement investigators and the media revealed that in the months leading up to the 2016 election, American Media, Inc. (“AMI”) — the company behind National Enquirer and whose CEO, David Pecker, allegedly is close with the President — had paid Ms. McDougal $150,000 in exchange for the rights to her story about the affair with Mr. Trump. Am. Compl. 26. AMI then assigned the rights to the story to a corporate shell entity formed by Mr. Cohen allegedly at Mr. Trump’s direction, and in exchange for the assignment Mr. Cohen paid AMI $125,000.3 Am. Compl. 28. During the Government’s investigation of these payments, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Pecker both revealed that Mr. Trump had directed the AMI payment to Ms. McDougal in the first place, and then personally reimbursed the payments himself, all as part of an effort to avoid having the allegations affect the 2016 election. Am. Compl.
26-29. Mr. Trump initially had denied knowledge of any payments to McDougal, see Am. Compl. 30, but by December 2018, had admitted to the payments, arguing that they were made on the advice of Mr. Cohen and that any illegality was Cohen’s fault. Am. Compl. 33. Mr. Cohen ultimately was charged with and pleaded guilty to violations of campaign finance laws.4 Shortly before Mr. Cohen’s sentencing, on December 10, 2018, Fox News aired an episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” a talk show hosted by Tucker Carlson. Am. Compl.
