Blake Lively says Justin Baldoni smear campaign is ongoing

(NewsNation) — Blake Lively has reasserted her claim that Justin Baldoni orchestrated a smear campaign against her, a new unsealed deposition revealed.  

The actress sat down for the deposition July 31 and was peppered with questions by Baldoni’s attorney regarding her legal battle with her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director.  

In a December 2024 lawsuit, Lively accused Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie. 

Lively was asked by an attorney when the alleged smear campaign against her came to an end. 

“It doesn’t feel like it’s ended,” Lively responded, adding that not only does she believe Baldoni was involved, but so was everyone she sued, including the attorney who questioned her.  

According to her initial complaint, Baldoni’s plan included a proposal to post theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and plant news stories critical of Lively.

Blake Lively: Justin Baldoni tried to damage my reputation 

“Outside of what I know through my attorneys, I believe the act of a retaliatory lawsuit and the press that you have done and the statements that you have made about me and my character have felt incredibly retaliatory,” Lively said.  

Lively also claimed in the December 2024 lawsuit that Baldoni created a hostile environment on the movie set.

The judge presiding over the case threw out Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit against Lively and Reynolds in June. He said Baldoni’s team had not alleged Lively was responsible for any statements outside her California Civil Rights Department complaint, which he said is privileged.   

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively caress each other in a movie scene
Justin Baldoni, left, and Blake Lively in a scene from “It Ends With Us.” (Nicole Rivelli/Sony Pictures via AP)

Justin Baldoni attended Blake Lively’s deposition 

While Lively doubled down on the smear campaign allegations, Baldoni was reportedly in the room.  

Sources told TMZ that Baldoni showed up at the New York City office of Lively’s lawyer as his attorneys questioned her about the lawsuit.

Lively scored a legal victory last week when the judge granted the actress’s motion to strike a rough draft of her deposition transcript from the docket.  

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Details from Lively’s deposition were revealed on Aug. 4, including a text chain among editors of the movie. In the documents, the editors are seen criticizing Lively over her taking control of the movie’s sex scenes involving her character, including scenes in which another actress played the younger version of Lively’s character.  

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‘He just dynamites it’: Alarm sounded over Trump’s ‘smoking gun for abuse of power’



Legal commentator Elie Honig said during a podcast Sunday that the indictment of former FBI director James Comey might be "abuse of executive power."

Speaking to journalist John Avalon on The Bulwark's podcast, Honig, who is the author of the book When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump, said, "I mean, God, Trump basically, by mistake, published a DM demand to his AG that in any other environment would be seen as a smoking gun for abuse of executive power. And now it just seems like something happened two Fridays ago. And who can remember or care?"

He continued: "I do think more people will get indicted on the hit list. He gave us a hit list. I know there's speculation if it's a DM that he inadvertently posted. It has hallmarks of both."

Avalon said the indictment "seems like a new low in the politicization of justice and the persecution of [President] Donald Trump's enemies."

According to Honig, there is "the complete evisceration of this wall that has long existed between the White House and the political operation of the executive branch and the Justice Department's prosecutorial function."

"When the president gets involved in dictating who gets charged and who doesn't, prosecutorial decisions, then we have crossed the line. And that's something that both parties for decades. Presidents don't always love it. Presidents would like to have more control over prosecutors. But even going back to Nixon, they've always understood that there has to be some independent prosecutorial function. But that's changing now very quickly," he added.

Honig further noted that there is no law per se "saying DOJ must be separate and independent from the White House, from the president."

He added: "I mean, if you went to court and said, I want to sue because I think DOJ is no longer independent, you wouldn't have a leg to stand on. This is more along the lines of a long established law foundational norm and tradition that both parties have long observed and respected."

Referencing his book, Honig noted how Trump 2.0 appears different from other presidencies.

"And part of the book is about ways that that has been chipped away over the years. But whether it's Nixon or Clinton, and they're not all equal, but Nixon or Clinton or Trump 1 or Biden, they've all chipped away at that wall in various ways."

"But now here comes Trump 2.0 and it's over. He just dynamites it. This is one of those things that's like not really enforceable. I mean, yes, Jim Comey can go into court and argue that he's being selectively prosecuted. And I think he's going to win on that. Given the things Trump has said and posted on social media publicly, he makes the case for him, but it's not like 'my fourth amendment constitutional right is being violated. My first amendment constitutional right is being violated.' It's just really like good government that we've long recognized that is now totally scrapped."

Avalon noted that "there is an unwritten part of the constitution, which is rooted in concepts of honor, decency, and common sense, as the founders intended and as everyone has recognized."

"And the rest of the quote, 'Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was burnt in one.' And Trump is burning something. I mean, FBI shows outside John Bolton's house. You've got [New York Attorney Genera] Letitia James next on the list."

Commenting on James' case, Honig said, "I've looked at the allegations against Letitia James. You know, I've been a critic, a sharp critic of Letitia James. But this mortgage fraud case is bogus. It's bonkers."

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