Trump campaign sues CNN for libel over opinion piece alleging Russian help is 'on the

[The Patriot]

[Boats]

Trump threatens to sue CNN, seeks 'substantial' payment over damages: letter
By: Jan wolfe - Reuters & World News - 5-months ago old posting
Re: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN1WX2B1

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump and his re-election campaign have threatened in a letter to sue CNN for what they said was the network falsely advertising itself as a news organization, calling on executives to first discuss an “appropriate resolution” to the matter that would include a “substantial” payment to cover damages.

The letter, dated Oct. 16 and made public on Friday, is the latest threat by Trump to sue a media organization over what he sees as unfair media coverage since launching his 2016 presidential campaign, although no lawsuits have been filed.

“This is nothing more than a desperate PR stunt and doesn’t merit a response,” a CNN spokesman said in an email.

Rebecca Tushnet, a professor of false advertising law at Harvard Law School, said there was “no merit” to the letter’s legal arguments and that she doubted a lawsuit would ever be filed.

The letter was signed by Charles Harder, who has sent similar threats to media organizations on Trump’s behalf.

Last year, Harder suggested Trump would take legal action against the New York Times for an investigative report on his business empire, calling it “highly defamatory.”

Harder also threatened a libel lawsuit over “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” by author Michael Wolff, a book that portrayed an inept president in a fumbling White House.

Trump has frequently lashed out at CNN and other news organizations, calling them “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.”

On Nov. 7, 2018, the day after congressional elections, Trump erupted into anger during a news conference when CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta questioned him about the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and a migrant caravan traveling through Mexico.

The White House suspended Acosta’s credentials later that day, alleging Acosta had put his hands on an intern who was trying to take a microphone from him. Videos of the encounter show Acosta pulling back as the intern moved to take the microphone.

The White House later restored Acosta’s press access, ending a lawsuit brought by CNN challenging the revocation as a violation of the reporter’s constitutional rights. A judge had issued a temporary ruling in CNN’s favor.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Susan Heavey, Editing by Franklin Paul and Steve Orlofsky

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the record:

An analysis by USA Today published in June 2016 found that over the previous three decades, Donald Trump and his businesses have been involved in 3,500 legal cases in U.S. federal courts and state court, an unprecedented number for a U.S. presidential candidate.

In hundreds more, cases ended with the available public record unclear about the resolution. Where there was a clear resolution, Trump won 451 times, and lost 38. The topics of the legal cases include contract disputes, defamation claims, and allegations of sexual harassment.

As in all things, Mr. Trump, of course, gives as good as he gets. Always litigious in private business, he has brought his penchant for the legal process to the presidency as he regularly threatens to sue perceived adversaries, unlike most of his predecessors — although it generally results in more talk than tort, since he routinely fails to follow through.

The sheer volume of legal issues that have made it to court, however, has been head-spinning. Mr. Trump is fighting claims that he violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause barring self-enrichment. He is fighting to prevent his former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II from testifying to Congress. He is fighting to keep his tax returns from becoming public. He is fighting claims that he abused his power by declaring a national emergency at the border and changing immigration rules.

No wonder Mr. Trump took time out on Wednesday to hold a ceremony in the East Room of the White House to celebrate putting 159 federal judges on the bench since taking office. As he transforms the judiciary, he said he expected his corps of jurists to reverse “the left-wing assault on the Constitution,” complaining about judges who have ruled against him.

“The activist left only needs to find one partisan, resistance judge anywhere in the country to agree with them,” Mr. Trump said.

As he and his White House and his business and his foundation and his inaugural committee have all found themselves under investigation, Mr. Trump has made sweeping claims about his ability to withhold documents, block testimony and avoid not just indictment while in office but even investigation.

“I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president,” he said over the summer, referring to the article of the Constitution outlining the powers of the nation’s chief executive, a rather tortured interpretation in the view of many legal scholars but one that may soon be tested by the Supreme Court.

Shortly after the election, he settled fraud lawsuits by former students of his Trump University for $25 million. The courts quickly became consumed with his battles after his inauguration as well. More than 60 lawsuits were filed against him in the first three weeks of his presidency, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent and has covered the last four presidents for The Times and The Washington Post. He also is the author of five books, most recently “Impeachment: An American History.”

Before becoming president, Donald Trump had been involved in thousands of court cases and lawsuits. ... There's simply too much to review, so we chose some of his biggest, most ... During that time, Deutsche Bank sued Trump for $40 million ... Next: The residents of Indiana gambled on Trump and lost.

The breadth of Trump’s controversies is truly yuge, ranging from allegations of mafia ties to unscrupulous business dealings, and from racial discrimination to alleged marital rape. They stretch over more than four decades, from the mid-1970s to the present day. To catalogue the full sweep of allegations would require thousands of words and lump together the trivial with the truly scandalous. Including business deals that have simply failed, without any hint of impropriety, would require thousands more. This is a snapshot of some of the most interesting and largest of those scandals.

Mafia Ties
Where and when: New York and Atlantic City, 1970s- ?

The dirt: Trump has been linked to the mafia many times over the years, with varying degrees of closeness. Many of the connections seem to be the sorts of interactions with mobsters that were inevitable for a guy in the construction and casino businesses at the time. For example, organized crime controlled the 1980s New York City concrete business, so that anyone building in the city likely brushed up against it. While Trump has portrayed himself as an unwitting participant, not everyone agrees. There have been a string of other allegations, too, many reported by investigative journalist Wayne Barrett. Cohn, Trump’s lawyer, also represented the Genovese crime family boss Tony Salerno. Barrett also reported a series of transactions involving organized crime, and alleged that Trump paid twice market rate to a mob figure for the land under Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. Michael Isikoff has also reported that Trump was close to Robert LiButti, an associate of John Gotti, inviting him on his yacht and helicopter. In one case, Trump’s company bought LiButti nine luxury cars.

Trump University
Where and when: 2005-2010, online

The dirt: In 2005, the Trump announced an eponymous “university” to teach his real-estate development secrets. Students ponied up as much as $35,000—some after being suckered in by slick free “seminars”—to learn how to get rich. One ad promised they would “learn from Donald Trump’s handpicked instructors, and that participants would have access to Trump’s real estate ‘secrets.’” In fact, Trump had little to do with the curriculum or the instructors. Many of the “students” have since complained that Trump U. was a scam. At one time, it had some prestigious instructors, but over time the “faculty” became a motley bunch of misfits. (It was also never really a “university” by any definition, and it changed its name to the “Trump Entrepreneur Initiative,” because as it happened, the school was violating New York law by operating without an educational license.)

The upshot: The school shut down in 2010. In November 2016, Trump agreed to settle a series of lawsuits related to the school for $25 million. Trump did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. But he had insisted for months that he would not settle the suit because he expected to win. For a time, he appeared to have been trying to intimidate plaintiffs, including countersuing one for $1 million (a favorite Trump litigation tactic) and refusing to let her withdraw from the suit. (The countersuit was thrown out.) His lawyers cited positive reviews, but former students say they were pressured to give those. Trump also mounted a length attack on the judge, claiming his ethnicity made him biased. Trump has been widely repudiated across the board, with fellow Republicans openly calling him racist.

All of these article's can be found on The Atlantic
Re: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...andals/474726/