U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions about the conflict with Iran and his impeachment by the U.S. Congress during an event to announce proposed rollbacks to National Environmental Policy Act regulations in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 9, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Trump campaign announced that they are suing The New York Times for libel over an opinion piece that discussed a Trump deal with Russia for election help.
The Trump campaign issued a statement on the lawsuit:
Jenna Ellis, Senior Legal Adviser to the Trump campaign said, “Today the President’s re-election campaign filed suit against the New York Times for falsely stating the campaign had an ‘overarching deal’ with ‘Vladimir Putin’s oligarchy’ to ‘help the campaign against Hillary Clinton’ in exchange for ‘a new pro-Russian foreign policy, starting with relief from … economic sanctions.’ ”
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Ellis continued, “The statements were and are 100 percent false and defamatory,” Ellis said. “The complaint alleges The Times 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 lawsuit in a series of cheap Trump stunts to attack the media and the credibility of the Russia scandal. In order for Trump to win the lawsuit, he will have to prove that The Times knew the statements were false at the time of publication. Being that the piece in question was a clearly labeled opinion piece and not presented as a news story, the odds of Trump winning anything are close to zero.
Trump’s lawsuit is an embarrassment. It is beneath the presidency and the behavior of a toddler who is throwing a tantrum over an opinion that he doesn’t like.
Just when one thinks that Trump can’t go any lower, he finds a new level of self-humiliation.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
The Biden administration went beyond rolling back Trump's weakening of Title IX sex discrimination protections…
A senior official at Turning Point Action has resigned after allegedly committing election fraud by…
Trump thought that he would never stand trial and now that reality is setting in,…
The jury has been sworn in at Trump's hush money trial, as arguments could begin…
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is telling reporters that he wants to delay the vote on…
A new large sample poll of youth voters shows Biden leading Trump by double digits…
This website uses cookies.
