Alec Baldwin files to dismiss $25 million lawsuit by fallen Marine family
Says his attack on Rylee McCollum's sister as 'insurrectionist' is legal 'political speech'
I’ve uploaded the court filings from Alec Baldwin below for my paid subscribers to read.
Alec Baldwin asked the federal court to dismiss the $25 million lawsuits by the fallen Marine family filed in Wyoming federal court. He says he is not responsible for the actions of his 2.4 million Instagram followers against the widow and sisters of Marine Lance Cpl Rylee McCollum.
“This is a political dispute masquerading as a lawsuit, motivated further by money,” wrote Baldwin’s lawyers in the filing. “The public square—not this Court—is the proper place to debate Alec Baldwin’s opinion.”
CATCH UP— I reported exclusively about this lawsuit by fallen Marine Rylee McCollum’s widow and sisters in January when Baldwin told his 2.4 million Instagram followers to attack.
The actor claims no responsibility for the actions of his 2.4 million Instagram followers. He says that is public opinion and not connected to his post telling the McCollums, “good luck.” Baldwin claims this private message (below) can’t be used against him.
Baldwin is using multiple claims for getting out of the suit, including his right to “political speech” about the January 6 “insurrection” and jurisdiction.
Baldwin’s lawyers in the filing say that he:
expressed the widely held political opinion that participating in that protest was an act of “insurrection”—the same word numerous Republicans, Democrats, media organizations, and even Senator McConnell have used to describe January 6
(Baldwin cites Majority Leader Mitch McConnell four times in the filing — seeming to want to align himself with the Kentucky Republican.)
Baldwin claims the grieving McCollum family can’t sue him because they spoke to reporters about Pres. Biden’s actions in Afghanistan:
Plaintiffs also affirmatively made themselves limited public figures with respect to the political issues surrounding LCPL McCollum’s tragic death, an event that is, unfortunately, inextricably intertwined with this action.
The sentence above links to this Washington Post story: Biden meets with families of service members killed in Kabul as U.S. races to exit Afghanistan.
As the McCollums’ lawyer Dennis Postiglione expected (read about that here), Baldwin is saying that he can’t be sued in Wyoming as a New York resident.
Postiglione has 15 days to file a response and then the court rules on these issues of jurisdiction and motion to dismiss.
Baldwin was supposed to do a military-related podcast on Tuesday while the court documents were filed. The PR stunt backfired because the show’s host refused to get on with him. I made a short video showing Baldwin’s angry and sarcastic reaction to not being interviewed as scheduled, here:
Baldwin’s legal team is well-funded and powerful. My story below gives the details:
