Trump Campaign Sues the Washington Post Over More Opinion Pieces

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President Donald Trump’s campaign is suing The Washington Post over two opinion pieces in June 2019, according to court documents released Tuesday. The lawsuit is the second libel claim in the last week from Donald J. Trump For President, Inc. — On Feb. 26, it sued the New York Times over an opinion piece about Russia.

The two articles are written by progressive columnist Greg Sargent, titled, “Trump just invited another Russian attack. Mitch McConnell is making one more likely.” and “Trump: I can win reelection with just my base.” According to court documents, the case was created because The Post “never informed the Campaign that it was going to publish the claims in the Defamatory article.”

“The Defamatory Article defamed the Campaign in its trade or profession, because it falsely accuses the Campaign of pursuing a strategy of disloyal, unethical, and potentially unlawful conduct: seeking the assistance of a foreign adversary of the United States to improperly influence an election result,” documents read.

The case filed against the Times, which is similar to Tuesday’s case, has been widely considered as a publicity stunt by experts. Mediaite founder and ABC chief legal analyst Dan Abrams said on The View that several problems make the first case a “non-starter.”

“It’s a political statement,” Abrams said. “The lawsuit is filled with allegations against The New York Times about how biased they are, et cetera. So either one of two things will happen. Either the case is going to get dismissed, or they’re going to drop it because there’s no way Donald Trump is testifying in connection with this case, period.”

Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser for the campaign, said the filing was to “publicly establish the truth and seek appropriate legal remedies for the harm causes by false reporting.”

Fox News judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano called the initial case “clever,” but ultimately believes it will be dismissed, as well. “If it is an opinion, the case goes away because your opinion can be anything you want,” Napolitano said.

The campaign’s second libel suit is seeking punitive damages in the millions.