US President, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has sued American newspaper, New York Times over allegations that it knowingly published false and defamatory statements” connecting Trump to Russia.
The lawsuit concerns an essay published by the Opinion section of The Times in March 2019. The article, headlined “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo,” was written by Max Frankel, who served as executive editor of The Times from 1986 to 1994. (The Opinion section of The Times operates separately from its newsroom.)
In the essay, Mr. Frankel wrote about communications between Mr. Trump’s inner circle and Russian emissaries in the lead-up to the 2016 election. He concluded that, rather than any “detailed electoral collusion,” the Trump campaign and Russian officials “had an overarching deal”: “the quid of help in the campaign against Hillary Clinton for the quo of a new pro-Russian foreign policy.”
Asked about the lawsuit at a news conference at the White House on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump doubled down on his criticism of The Times. “It’s beyond an opinion,” he said of Mr. Frankel’s Op-Ed article. “That’s not an opinion. That’s something much more than an opinion.”
“They did a bad thing,” the president added, “and there’ll be more coming.”
Earlier Wednesday, several media law experts reacted with skepticism about the Trump campaign’s chances of succeeding in the suit.
“A publisher cannot be held liable for commentary based on public facts,” said Brian Hauss, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Frederick Schauer, a law professor at the University of Virginia, said public figures who sue for libel must show that a publisher either “knew it was false before publishing, or had actual suspicion of falsity and went ahead anyway.” Proving that in court, he said, “is virtually impossible.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Trump campaign by Charles J. Harder, a lawyer with a reputation for waging aggressive legal battles against prominent news organizations.
– New York Times
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