Trump, on a Defamation Crusade, Targets Major News Outlets

President Trump has been on the offensive against the mainstream press, seeking billions in damages for alleged character defamation. The series of legal moves marks a significant escalation in his long-standing battle with the press.Trump started going after various news outlets before he had even secured victory on election day, signaling issues that the press may have to deal with through his second term.“It really has a mental chilling effect to be under a microscope like that,” an attorney who has represented CNN, Jim Acosta, Mary Trump, and Brian Karem in legal matters involving Trump, Anne Champion, said to Columbia Journalism Review.“It is both conscious and unconscious. Journalists at smaller outlets know very well that the costs for their organization to defend themselves could mean bankruptcy. Even journalists at larger outlets don’t want to burden themselves or their employees with lawsuits. It puts another layer of influence into the journalistic process,” she said.Letters from his attorney were sent to the legal teams for the New York Times and Penguin Random House a week before the election with a ten-page legal threat, according to the CJR report. The letter focuses on two stories co-written by Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner related to their book, “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”The articles, from October 20 and 22 respectively, related to the book and focused on Trump’s legal issues and comments made by his former chief-of-staff, John Kelly, who alleged he was a fascist who would rule like a dictator if elected back into office.“There was a time, long ago when the New York Times was considered the ‘newspaper of record,'” reads a copy of the letter, which CJR reviewed. “Those halcyon days have passed.”The letter, which was signed by Trump’s attorney, Edward Andrew Paltzik, goes on to accuse the Times of being “a full-throated mouthpiece of the Democratic Party” and doles out “industrial-scale libel against political opponents.” It also alleges that the newspaper had “every intention of defaming and disparaging the world-renowned Trump brand.”CJR reports that the Times had responded to the letter on October 31, saying that they stood by the reporting in the two articles and urged Mr. Paltzik to contact Penguin Random House for his claims against the book.On the same day, Trump’s attorney filed a lawsuit, also for $10 billion in damages, against CBS News with allegations that they had edited down Vice President Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview to portray her in a favorable light.Also on October 31, The Washington Post was targeted in a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission that alleged that the paper had made illegal contributions to Ms. Harris’s campaign over promoted stories, according to CJR. The newspaper has dismissed the claim, saying it is without merit.Most recently, Trump went after the Daily Beast, demanding a correction and retraction for a series of articles alleging that campaign strategist Chris LaCivita had personally pocketed up to $22 million. The website was forced to issue a correction in an editor’s note after receiving a letter on November 5 from attorney Mark Geragos, who represents the Trump Campaign co-chief.“Based on a further review of FEC records, the correct total is $19.2 million. The Beast regrets the error,” reads the editor’s note. “The article has also been updated to make clear that payments were to LaCivita’s LLC, not to LaCivita personally.”Mr. Geragos sent a second letter on November 12 demanding a full retraction of the story.“The editor’s note in that article clarifying that $22 million went to LaCivita’s LLC and not to him personally does not remedy the overall messaging of the story —which depicts Mr. LaCivita as deceptively pocketing campaign money for his own personal gain and that he was and is on the verge of being ‘fired’ because of it,” reads the second letter.

Trump, on a Defamation Crusade, Targets Major News Outlets

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