You may have heard that the Trump campaign has sued the New York Times for libel. Seriously. But you really can’t understand how daft it is until you see what it is they’re suing over.
Law professor Joshua Geltzer did a useful simple twitter thread explaining:
The most important thing to know about this suit is that, however crazy you’ve heard it is, it’s actually crazier.
Let me explain. 1st, the suit claims “harm caused by The Times’ intentional false reporting.” But the suit’s all about 1 article–an opinion piece, not news reporting.That’s not to say opinion pieces can’t in theory be defamatory. But it’s eyebrow-raising, especially calling it “reporting”
2nd, the suit claims NYT “published the statements at issue knowing that they were false at the time of publication.” The suit claims their falseness became clear w/ the Mueller Report’s publication in April 2019.
So: time travel?
3rd, Mueller didn’t demonstrate the statements were false–the opposite. The statements said Russia helped Trump b/c it expected pro-Russia policies if Trump won. Mueller detailed extensive Trump campaign-Russia connections & efforts to dilute Republicans’ policy on Russia.
4th, here’s the key NYT statement:
“There was no need for detailed electoral collusion between the Trump campaign & Vladimir Putin’s oligarchy because they had an overarching deal.” With 3 years of pro-Russia policies & invitation of 2020 interference, does anyone disagree?
PS. For those wanting to read the complaint for themselves, it’s here. Read it & weep (truly): assets.donaldjtrump.com/2017/web/hero_…
This is a tactic Trump has used for years. Ironically, he is the poster boy for “Tort-reform” which the Republicans used to flog as one of their top strategies for defunding the left, by defunding plaintiff’s lawyers who tend to support Democrats. Once again Trump has exposed their monumental hypocrisy.