Could Nordstrom Sue Trump for Tweet?

[struggle4progress]

NATHALIE BAPTISTE
FEB. 8, 2017 2:02 PM

On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump fired off a tweet attacking Nordstrom, saying that the department store has treated his eldest daughter, Ivanka, "so unfairly" ... Shortly after Trump sent out the tweet from his personal account, it was retweeted by the official account for the president of the United States ...

... "Knowing that he's doing it just for his family's business interest is disturbing," says Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ...

Norm Eisen, who is the chair of CREW's board and a former White House ethics lawyer, stated that Trump's tweet is grounds for a lawsuit.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/donald-trump-nordstrom-tweet-ivanka

[Historic NY]

1. Could be construed as interfering with commerce.

[Angry Dragon]

2. I say YES

[elleng]

3. Not without 'harm,'

which appears not to have occurred.

[LAS14]

9. :-)

[NCjack]

4. Pres. Trump has "forgotten" that he runs 1000s

of companies and has terminated 1000s of vendors for his own convenience. Even if Nordstroms is acting because they no longer want to deal with a company with "Trump" in its name, it is their right to terminate within bounds of the contract. Suck on Trump -- it is now happening to you.

[truebluegreen]

5. Not if their stock price / sales go UP

which I bet they will. SNL's popularity is soaring.

[Gothmog]

6. Yes

[struggle4progress]

7. Trump's attack blurs line between the Oval Office and the family business

Jacob Pramuk | John W. Schoen
6 Hours Ago

... Trump's tweet, later distributed by the official "@POTUS" account, pulled him back into a debate over whether he did enough to distance himself from his family's businesses when he took office. The president chose not to divest from the Trump Organization, handing control to his two eldest sons and a company executive.

While the Trump Organization said Ivanka Trump stepped down from her roles there, she licenses her name to merchandise manufacturers, who then sell products at stores like Nordstrom and Macy's, according to The New York Times. It's not clear if she still receives royalties from her clothing licensing.

Trump's criticism of a company that distanced itself from his daughter's brand shows "un-presidential behavior and potentially much worse," said Richard Painter, a former top White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush ...

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/08/trumps-nordstrom-attack-blurs-politics-and-personal-business.html

[struggle4progress]

8. Trump raising new concern on business ties

By Nandita Bose and Timothy Gardner | WASHINGTON/CHICAGO

... After Trump's highly unusual move to use a White House platform to intervene in a commercial matter involving his daughter, Nordstrom reiterated that its action last week was based on declining sales of the Ivanka Trump products. But White House spokesman Sean Spicer characterized the move as a "direct attack" on the president's policies ...

Ethics officials who served past Republican and Democratic administrations said Trump's tweet was both unprecedented for a president and troublesome ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nordstrom-ivanka-trump-trump-idUSKBN15N1YN