Trump Threatened To Sue The New York Times Before It Published Sexual Assault Story

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:20 pm

According to new reporting by CNN, Donald Trump threatened the New York Times with legal action if the paper went forward with a story that claims the Republican nominee had sexually assaulted two women.

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Of course, as Jason Easley wrote not long ago, the Times did, in fact, publish the story despite Trump’s threats.

As Brian Stelter noted, Trump “yelled at the female reporter who interviewed him about this last night and also threatened to sue the newspaper.

These hardly seem like the actions of a man who is innocent.

Stelter also referred to a key moment during the last presidential debate when Trump claimed his words were just words, and that he has never made sexual advances toward women without their consent.

“I think it’s so important, Erin, these women are speaking because of Sunday’s presidential debate,” Stelter said, referring to Trump’s debate claim and how it encouraged women who have been assaulted by Trump to come forward and prove him wrong.

In recent days, the Republican nominee’s supporters have tirelessly pushed the argument that Trump’s remarks on the 2005 ‘Access Hollywood’ tape were simply “locker room talk” on the part of Trump and deflected by talking about Bill Clinton, even though the former president is not on the ballot.

Now it appears that the GOP nominee has been caught in yet another lie – one that plays into the snowballing narrative about his behavior toward and treatment of women, simply because he is a wealthy celebrity.

Of course, Trump’s first response to the Times before they went to print with the story wasn’t denial – it was to take legal action to make sure the information wasn’t reported.

With just a few weeks until Election Day, this is about as dire as it could get for a major party nominee.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.