Trump campaign sues Washington Post for defamation, week after similar legal action against NY Times

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CNBC

POLITICS
Trump campaign sues Washington Post for defamation, week after similar legal action against New York Times
PUBLISHED TUE, MAR 3 20202:28 PM ESTUPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Dan Mangan
@_DANMANGAN

KEY POINTS

President Donald Trump’s campaign sued the The Washington Post for defamation, citing two opinion articles published in 2019 about the campaign allegedly benefiting from Russian assistance.

The lawsuit came a week after the campaign sued The New York Times for defamation in connection with an op-ed entitled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo.”

Trump has been critical of Post owner Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, whose cloud computing arm is suing the federal government over the awarding of the $10 billion JEDI contract by the Defense Department to Microsoft.

President Donald Trump’s campaign on Tuesday sued the The Washington Post for defamation, citing two opinion articles published last June about the campaign allegedly benefiting from Russian assistance.

The lawsuit came a week after the campaign sued The New York Times for defamation in connection with an op-ed entited “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo.”

Both legal actions claim damages “in the millions of dollars.”

The suit against The Post was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. It identified two articles that allegedly contained false claims.

The first article, published June 13, was written by Greg Sargent and was headlined, “Trump just invited another Russian attack. Mitch McConnell is making one more likely.”

{snip}

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/trump-campaign-sues-washington-post-for-defamation.html

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Hat tip, Joe.My.God

Red Meat For Rubes: Trump Campaign Sues WaPo
March 3, 2020

https://www.joemygod.com/2020/03/red-meat-for-rubes-trump-campaign-sues-wapo/

JMG's source was FOX News.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-campaign-sues-washington-post-libel-false-defamatory-statements

[spooky3]

1. They skipped right over the first amendment en route to worshipping the second. Nt

[azureblue]

2. oh smooooth move

Right before campaign season, bring frivolous lawsuits against two giant newspapers. Let's see how that works out for you, stupid Don. Oh, yeah Donny, you're too stupid to understand what the discovery phase is. What's going to happen when you get deposed? You not going to show up? I know - you'll take more drugs and tweet all night.

[Moostache]

3. Can we get access to discovery information after the trials?

If so, I hope people are already drafting the FOI papers now!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Red Meat For Rubes: Trump Campaign Sues WaPo

Hat tip, Joe.My.God:

Red Meat For Rubes: Trump Campaign Sues WaPo
March 3, 2020

JMG's source was FOX News:

MEDIA | Published 3 hours ago | Last Update 2 hours ago
Trump campaign sues Washington Post for libel over ‘false, defamatory statements’ about Russia ‘conspiracy’

By Brian Flood, Brooke Singman | Fox News

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump campaign filed a libel lawsuit against the Washington Post for “millions of dollars” on Tuesday for publishing “false and defamatory statements” about an alleged conspiracy with Russia.

The complaint obtained by Fox News was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. by attorneys David C. Tobin and Charles J. Harder. It points to a pair of Post articles published in June 2019 that included statements tying the Trump campaign to foreign campaign interference.

{snip}

The complaint claims that Greg Sargent’s June 13 article, “Trump just invited another Russian attack. Mitch McConnell is making one more likely,” contained the defamatory statement that Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Trump’s campaign “tried to conspire with” a “sweeping and systematic” attack by Russia during the 2016 election.

{snip}

A second Post article by Paul Waldman that was published on June 20 headlined, “Trump: I can win reelection with just my base,” included the comment, “Who knows what sort of aid Russia and North Korea will give to the Trump campaign, now that he has invited them to offer their assistance?”

{snip}

[riversedge]

17. "The Campaign was damaged in the millions of dollars, the specific amount to be proven at trial," th

I have no idea how trump camp will prove this???

https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-campaign-sues-washington-post-libel-false-defamatory-statements

“The articles at issue herein also are part of the Post’s systematic pattern of bias against the Campaign, designed to maliciously interfere with and damage its reputation and ultimately cause the organization to fail,” the complaint stated

“The Campaign was damaged in the millions of dollars, the specific amount to be proven at trial,” the complaint added.

Lawsuits for libel against media organizations by public figures must clear a high bar, and require a showing that the media organization was reckless in reporting a falsehood -- meaning either that the organization knew the information was false, or intentionally disregarded a significant risk that the material was false.

In a statement to Fox News, vice president of communications for the Post, Kristine Coratti Kelly, said: “It’s disappointing to see the President’s campaign committee resorting to these types of tactics and we will vigorously defend this case.”

[Denis Enko]

5. Don the Orange Snowflake

Also, the Wimpiest.

[Cartoonist]

6. How does the campaign have standing?

Is Trump himself named as the plaintiff?

[cstanleytech]

7. I look forward to Trump being forced to take the stand and testify under oath.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Whining in another form

[Mr.Bill]

9. What can you possibly say that would damage

Trump's reputation that he hasn't already said himself?

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Exactly. WaPo should return the favor and sue for frivolous filing of defamation.

Treble damages AND attorneys fees.

[JohnnyRingo]

10. Suing op-ed pages is a pandora's box of frivolous lawsuits.

Walter Williams and Eric Erickson in particular lie like a bear rug at the hunting lodge.
This will never fly. It's just a fake-out to send a message that will never be followed through on.

[DFW]

11. Watergate 2.0 n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

13. Trump knows there isn't a scintilla of evidence to back his claim of defamation.

The MO is to sue and then wait for the targeted adversary to pay a settlement to make the action go away. The rationale is that it's cheaper to settle than to litigate even if you win.

And that's why WaPo and the Times should counter with a claim of frivolous lawsuits insofar as it's obvious that Trump knows there's no claim and the only reason he's suing is vexatious and a form of extortion. Treble damages and attorneys fees.

[Grokenstein]

14. He really believes "acquittal" has made him invulnerable.

(insert my usual reference to Mussolini presuming his own eternal reign, mere days before his dripping carcass hung upside-down from a lamppost)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. It's only red meat for the base. Even tRump gotta know its doomed. He's not as dumb as Nunes. . . nt

[riversedge]

16. Our democracy in the UsA is in dangerous territory

[Journeyman]

18. Truth is, WaPo is guilty of character definition . . .

Trump is certainly justified in being upset: How can he grift the rubes when the curtain keeps getting ripped away?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. Such a snowflake

[marble falls]

20. If only Trump sued Bezos until both were stoney, stoney broke.

[Javaman]

21. This is a slap suit. His lawyers are the same ones that went after gawker.

They are only hoping to drain the times financially