Trump sues his niece Mary and the New York Times for $100M over 'insidious plot to smuggle his confi

[mystery-ak]

Trump sues his niece Mary and the New York Times for $100M over 'insidious plot to smuggle his confidential and highly-sensitive records' out of attorney's office for story about his tax history

    The former president on Tuesday took legal action over his tax records
    The records from 1985-94 showed over $1 billion in losses from his businesses
    Trump was furious at the piercing of his carefully-curated business image
    He sued his niece Mary and The New York Times in Dutchess County, New York
    Trump claims that there was 'an insidious plot' to get hold of his tax records
    He is seeking $100 million in damages from the story, which won a 2019 Pulitzer
    Mary Trump said that her uncle's lawsuit was 'desperation'

By Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com

Published: 22:20 EDT, 21 September 2021 | Updated: 07:44 EDT, 22 September 2021

Donald Trump on Tuesday sued his niece Mary and The New York Times over their reporting on his tax affairs, accusing them of 'an insidious plot' to obtain confidential records, and is seeking an excess of $100 million in damages.

The former president filed his case against Mary, the paper and three of its reporters.

In the suit, reported by The Daily Beast, Trump claims that the Times convinced Mary Trump to 'smuggle records out of her attorney's office and turn them over to The Times' despite her having signed a confidentiality agreement. 

more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10015443/Trump-sues-niece-Mary-NYT-insidious-plot-tax-records.html

[catfish1957]

The man's life is a 3 Ring Circus.  Suing your niece?

Maybe we do look for alternatives in '24.

[skeeter]

The man's life is a 3 Ring Circus.  Suing your niece?

Maybe we do look for alternatives in '24.

I'll vote for whomever's best for the nation. Even if that means voting for Giggles the Clown.

[catfish1957]

I'll vote for whomever's best for the nation. Even if that means voting for Giggles the Clown.

Same here, but at what point do we seize up from cringing.

[skeeter]

Same here, but at what point do we seize up from cringing.

Can't speak for everyone, but for me understanding the media hates the man and has an interest in making him look as poorly as possible - even to the point of, and often, printing bullsh*t - helps.

[Idiot]

His niece is a NUT.  I guess we all have a couple in our families.

[catfish1957]

His niece is a NUT.  I guess we all have a couple in our families.

Dat's true, but not every day do we sue them for $100M

[goatprairie]

The man's life is a 3 Ring Circus.  Suing your niece?

Maybe we do look for alternatives in '24.

Trump is a rampaging elephant. Sometimes he crushed enemies of the country. Sometimes he attempted to crush ankle biters like his niece for weird reasons.

[Kamaji]

Theft of personal and confidential papers, such as one's tax returns, is actionable.  Just because it involves a carpetbagger of a niece, and overblown rhetoric by Mr. Trump, does not mean that it isn't a legitimate suit.

[catfish1957]

Trump is a rampaging elephant. Sometimes he crushed enemies of the country. Sometimes he attempted to crush ankle biters like his niece for weird reasons.

I like your analogy, but that same elephant might trample a 100 customers (us) in collateral damage. An in control POTUS Trump could be one of the greatest POTUS in history.

But quoting the Great Ron White....

(Trump) I had the right to remain silent, but didn't have the ability.

[catfish1957]

Theft of personal and confidential papers, such as one's tax returns, is actionable.  Just because it involves a carpetbagger of a niece, and overblown rhetoric by Mr. Trump, does not mean that it isn't a legitimate suit.

Very true, and sometimes i get the feeling that DJT is proponent of the philosophy that bad press is better than no press at all.  Especially if you need the visibilty to make a comeback.

[Kamaji]

Very true, and sometimes i get the feeling that DJT is proponent of the philosophy that bad press is better than no press at all.  Especially if you need the visibilty to make a comeback.

I don't think he really minds what many might call "bad" press coverage; certainly not the way many others do.

[catfish1957]

I don't think he really minds what many might call "bad" press coverage; certainly not the way many others do.

No doubt.  In my entire life of watching politics, to the '60's, there has never even been close the distaste the media has for one politican. Even Nixon in '74.

Mostly reporters have disliked or hated GOP politicans.  In Trump's case is an obsessive ongoing attempt to destroy him.

[Kamaji]

No doubt.  In my entire life of watching politics, to the '60's, there has never even been close the distaste the media has for one politican. Even Nixon in '74.

Mostly reporters have disliked or hated GOP politicans.  In Trump's case is an obsessive ongoing attempt to destroy him.

Yes, it is.  And, to be quite honest, it has made me more sympathetic to President Trump, personally, than I might otherwise have been.

[Victoria33]

Dat's true, but not every day do we sue them for $100M

@catfish1957

Mary's father was Trump's brother.  The brother owned part of the family company.  When he died, Trump would not give Mary her father's share when the company was sold.  There was a lawsuit filed by Mary's attorneys.  Helping her were the New York reporters.  When Mary was trying to get financial records, she went to the Trump attorney (almost positive it was this lawyer, not her lawyer) to get records from her case that she was entitled to.  There was a whole second copy of the records and she was given all of them.  She had to rent a truck to get all the records put in the back of the truck and went home where the New York Times reporters were waiting to see her.

These are the records Trump is talking about. I have Mary's book that explains this sequence but that book is right now in a moving box.

[Kamaji]

@catfish1957

Mary's father was Trump's brother.  The brother owned part of the family company.  When he died, Trump would not give Mary her father's share when the company was sold.  There was a lawsuit filed by Mary's attorneys.  Helping her were the New York reporters.  When Mary was trying to get financial records, she went to the Trump attorney (almost positive it was this lawyer, not her lawyer) to get records from her case that she was entitled to.  There was a whole second copy of the records and she was given all of them.  She had to rent a truck to get all the records put in the back of the truck and went home where the New York Times reporters were waiting to see her.

These are the records Trump is talking about. I have Mary's book that explains this sequence but that book is right now in a moving box.

I would hesitate to use her book as the sole source of information on the underlying issues, particularly whether she was entitled to do what she did with any information she might have obtained in discovery.

Just because you get someone else's confidential information in discovery during a lawsuit, does not give you carte blanche to go out and do with that information what you will.  Selling it to the NYT is almost certainly not on the list of what you may do with it.

[Victoria33]

I would hesitate to use her book as the sole source of information on the underlying issues, particularly whether she was entitled to do what she did with any information she might have obtained in discovery.

Just because you get someone else's confidential information in discovery during a lawsuit, does not give you carte blanche to go out and do with that information what you will.  Selling it to the NYT is almost certainly not on the list of what you may do with it.

Records were not sold to NYT.  The info. in her book about legal matters does not include anything confidential.  Her book is not the sole information for legal matters. 

[Kamaji]

Records were not sold to NYT.  The info. in her book about legal matters does not include anything confidential.  Her book is not the sole information for legal matters. 

I never said her book was the source of the information about President Trump's taxes.  I said her book was the source of her self-serving "explanations" for why she was entitled to do as she did.  That is what I would be hesitant about accepting - her self-serving justifications.

Beyond that, however, even if one assumes that she obtained the tax information in question through discovery, that does not give her automatic permission to share that information with anyone else.  And the fact of the matter is, somebody did indeed share some pages of President Trump's returns.

Just because one doesn't like President Trump's style, doesn't give one the grounds to claim that his suit is baseless.

And suing for $100 million is simply standard litigation practice - if one does not ask for the Moon in the initial pleading (the complaint), and instead limits one self to a narrower amount of damages, one may find at the end that one will not get recompense for any additional damages proven in court.

It's like suing someone in federal court under diversity jurisdiction.  Jurisdiction doesn't hold unless the plaintiff pleads damages in excess of $75,000 (a paltry sum now, but quite princely when the statute was first enacted), and so standard litigation practice is to plead damages in excess of that amount even if it turns out that one cannot prove all of those damages to the satisfaction of the fact-finder; all that is needed is that there be a colorable basis in the pleaded facts to support that claim for damages.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Dat's true, but not every day do we sue them for $100M

He's also suing the NYT .... the $100 million is a combined total.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Records were not sold to NYT. 

Let the bitter witch prove it.

[Right_in_Virginia]

@catfish1957

These are the records Trump is talking about. I have Mary's book that explains this sequence but that book is right now in a moving box.

You're using Mary as the source for Trump's guilt?   

[Right_in_Virginia]

Trump is a rampaging elephant. Sometimes he crushed enemies of the country. Sometimes he attempted to crush ankle biters like his niece for weird reasons.

Trump told us he was going to sue her, and he meant it.  Why let this upset you and get snared in the media's strategy?

[goatprairie]

Trump told us he was going to sue her, and he meant it.  Why let this upset you and get snared in the media's strategy?

Sue your niece for $100 million? Sure, why not. Nothing Trump does is weird or wrong, right?

[Kamaji]

Sue your niece for $100 million? Sure, why not. Nothing Trump does is weird or wrong, right?

You should see the intrafamily fighting over inheriting a large fortune.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Sue your niece for $100 million? Sure, why not. Nothing Trump does is weird or wrong, right?

Again .... the lawsuit is against TWO defendants---Mary Trump and the New York Times.  Guess which one the $100 million targets.  Go ahead, take a wild guess.

I don't know if nothing Trump does is weird or wrong ---- but this suit is neither.