Trump campaign sues Washington Post for libel over ‘false, defamatory statements’ about Russia ‘cons

[PeteS in CA]

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

Trump campaign sues Washington Post for libel over ‘false, defamatory statements’ about Russia ‘conspiracy’

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.

“The statements were and are 100 percent false and defamatory. The complaint alleges The Post was aware of the falsity at the time it published them, but did so for the intentional purpose of hurting the campaign, while misleading its own readers in the process,” Senior Legal Adviser to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. Jenna Ellis said in a statement, adding the Post reported “a conspiracy” as a fact.

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.

Previously, Trump sued the NYT. Like the NYT, the WashPost published a known false claim. And if they try the public figure defense, well, Trump's team will have no trouble demonstrating WashPost malice from just what the WashPost has published. And then there's discovery ...

[PeteS in CA]

Different party and article, same cause of action:

https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2020/03/06/trump-sues-cnn-defamation/

Trump Campaign Sues CNN For Libel Over Opinion Piece Alleging Russian Help Is ‘On The Table’ In 2020

Fox News is reporting the Trump re-election campaign has sued CNN for libel over an opinion piece which claimed the campaign decided to leave the option of seeking Russian’s help “on the table” in the 2020 election:

“The complaint alleges CNN was aware of the falsity at the time it published them but did so for the intentional purpose of hurting the campaign while misleading its own readers in the process… the campaign filed this lawsuit against CNN and the preceding suits against The New York Times and The Washington Post to hold the publishers accountable for their reckless false reporting and also to establish the truth,” Senior Legal Adviser to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. Jenna Ellis told Fox News…

The complaint said that Trump’s legal team sent CNN a request to retract and apologize last month but CNN executives refused. The Trump campaign now seeks “millions of dollars” through litigation…

Like the NYT and WashPost, CNN published a known-false claim. And like the other two outlets, CNN will find that claiming a "public figure" defense will have significant consequences in discovery.

Stepping back in history, the MSM have been making lurid false claims about Trump pretty much since he announced his candidacy in July, 2015. I saw this a little later in 2015 when I compared what the MSM claimed Trump said to the transcripts of the referenced speeches. It may be that one intent of these lawsuits is to warn the MSM that this time there will be consequences for partisan libel and slander. Another might be to force significant adjustment to the current "public figure" standard for libel/slander lawsuits. IIRC, Trump made comments along those lines back during the Covington High School media slanders.

[libertybele]

Hopefully he'll have some success; I am doubtful though.

[Chosen Daughter]

Hopefully he'll have some success; I am doubtful though.

This crap will never end.  Four more years of Mueller report, yeah.  Now a judge is ordering the release of the non-redacted copy of the Mueller report saying Barr misrepresented the findings to the public.

And any honest person would admit that Trump hired someone he knew was tied to Russia.  Who had been under investigation.  Who, along with his son set up that famous Russian encounter at Trump Tower.

Four more years of this BS.  So tiring.

[PeteS in CA]

Dang! With my family history, it's a good thing Trump didn't shake my hand at some rando event! My grandparents were Volga Germans! They spoke (Horrors!) Russian! And, GASP!, their oldest child was born in Russia! Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a silly parlor game, which even Mueller's partisan team didn't play.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

I wonder if Trump donors knew it would be for paying legal bills.  #MAGA