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Trump Renews Pledge to ‘Take a Strong Look’ at Libel Laws Trump Renews Pledge to ‘Take a Strong Look’ at Libel Laws
(about 3 hours later)
President Trump on Wednesday repeated a pledge to change the nation’s libel laws in a way that would make it easier for people to sue news organizations and publishers for defamation, another salvo from a president who has expressed hostility toward longstanding press freedoms. President Trump on Wednesday repeated a pledge to make it easier for people to sue news organizations and publishers for defamation, denouncing the country’s libel laws as a “sham” a day after his personal lawyer filed a lawsuit against a major media outlet, BuzzFeed News.
“We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a meeting of his cabinet in the White House. The salvo from Mr. Trump, who has long expressed hostility toward traditional press freedoms, followed a days-long effort by him and his team to undercut the unflattering portrayal of the White House in a new book by the writer Michael Wolff.
Expanding on the theme, he added, “Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness.” “We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts,” Mr. Trump said during a public portion of a cabinet meeting in the White House.
Mr. Trump and his close associates have taken steps in recent days to attack reporting that has portrayed the president in a critical light. Last week, a lawyer working on Mr. Trump’s behalf, Charles J. Harder of Harder Mirell & Abrams in Beverly Hills, Calif., sent an 11-page cease-and-desist letter to the publisher of a new book that has enraged the administration, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” by Michael Wolff. The president added, “Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness.”
Mr. Harder’s letter demanded that the publisher, Henry Holt and Company, withdraw the book from stores and apologize; the publisher responded by moving up the book’s release date and increasing the book’s first print run to one million, from 150,000. First Amendment lawyers were quick to point out that Mr. Trump has little power to modify those laws, barring a Supreme Court appeal or constitutional amendment. Other libel laws are determined at the state level, where Mr. Trump, as president, has no direct influence.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, filed a defamation lawsuit in federal court against Fusion GPS, the firm behind a salacious and mostly unsubstantiated intelligence dossier that purported to describe how Russia had aided the Trump campaign. The dossier portrayed Mr. Cohen as a central figure in what it described as a conspiracy. “President Trump’s threat to revise our country’s libel laws is, frankly, not credible,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mr. Cohen also filed a separate suit in New York State Court against BuzzFeed, which published the dossier. BuzzFeed said it would aggressively defend itself against the suit. Mr. Trump’s remarks reflected a broader frustration in his inner circle over critical coverage in recent days that has cast him as an erratic and ill-prepared commander in chief.
In reality, Mr. Trump has very little ability to change the nation’s libel laws, which are enshrined by First Amendment principles and Supreme Court rulings, including the landmark 1964 opinion, New York Times v. Sullivan. Other libel laws are determined at the state level, where Mr. Trump, as president, cannot directly change them. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, filed a defamation lawsuit against BuzzFeed News for publishing, last January, a salacious and mostly unsubstantiated intelligence dossier that purported to describe how Russia had aided the Trump campaign. The dossier characterized Mr. Cohen as a central figure in what it described as a globe-spanning conspiracy.
As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump made sport of the reporters who stood in fenced-off areas during his speeches, often whipping up the crowd against them. He also said on the campaign trail that he would “open up” the country’s libel laws — although he later backed off that pledge in an interview with editors and writers at The Times, joking that he personally might be in trouble if the laws were loosened. Mr. Cohen also filed a separate suit in federal court against Fusion GPS, the research firm that prepared the dossier. Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed both said they would aggressively defend themselves against the suits.
His remarks on Wednesday seemed at times to refer obliquely to Mr. Wolff’s book, which portrays Mr. Trump as ill prepared for the Oval Office. Last week, a lawyer working on Mr. Trump’s behalf, Charles J. Harder of Harder Mirell & Abrams in Beverly Hills, Calif., sent an 11-page cease-and-desist letter to the publisher of Mr. Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
Mr. Harder’s letter demanded that the publisher, Henry Holt and Company, withdraw the book from stores and apologize; the publisher responded by moving up the book’s release date and increasing its first print run to one million copies, from 150,000.
Mr. Trump’s remarks on Wednesday about libel law seemed, at times, to refer obliquely to the book, which has provided fodder for news articles, opinion pieces and hours of cable news talk.
“We want fairness,” the president said. “Can’t say things that are false, knowingly false, and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We are going to take a very, very strong look at that, and I think what the American people want to see is fairness.”“We want fairness,” the president said. “Can’t say things that are false, knowingly false, and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We are going to take a very, very strong look at that, and I think what the American people want to see is fairness.”
Mr. Trump also took time to taunt television news networks, saying that they were dependent on his activities for ratings. “If Trump doesn’t win in three years, they’re all out of business,” he told the small gathering of reporters. “You’re all out of business.” As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump made sport of the reporters who stood in fenced-off areas during his speeches, often whipping up the crowd against them.
He also claimed that network anchors had sent him “letters of congratulations” about a cabinet meeting that he hosted on Tuesday, which was broadcast on television. Mr. Trump said he had received “about two hours” of positive coverage from news networks, “and then they went a little bit south on us.” He also said on the campaign trail that he would “open up” the country’s libel laws — although he later backed off that pledge in an interview with editors and writers at The New York Times, joking that he personally might be in trouble if the laws were loosened.
“It was fun,” Mr. Trump added. “They probably wish they didn’t send us those letter of congratulations, but it was good. I’m sure their ratings were fantastic.” “Somebody said to me on that, they said, ‘You know, it’s a great idea softening up those laws, but you may get sued a lot more,’” Mr. Trump, who propagated false rumors that Barack Obama was born in Africa and that the father of Senator Ted Cruz had aided the assassination of John F. Kennedy, said at the time.
Mr. Trump’s comments about the news media on Wednesday extended to one of his favorite punching bags: network news. He taunted the television reporters in the room, saying they were dependent on his activities for ratings.
“If Trump doesn’t win in three years, they’re all out of business,” the president said. “You’re all out of business.”
He also claimed that network anchors had sent him “letters of congratulations” on Tuesday about a cabinet meeting that was broadcast on television that day.
“A lot of those anchors sent us letters saying that was one of the greatest meetings they’ve ever witnessed,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he had received “about two hours” of positive coverage from news networks, “and then they went a little bit south on us.” (White House aides said later that the “letters” in question referred to complimentary tweets from journalists.)
“They probably wish they didn’t send us those letter of congratulations, but it was good,” Mr. Trump added. “I’m sure their ratings were fantastic.”