Trump Sues Veteran Journalist Bob Woodward for $49 Million
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against veteran journalist Bob Woodward on Monday, alleging Woodward included recordings of their various interviews in the audiobook version of his 2020 book Rage “without President Trump’s permission.”
Trump’s lawyers note that the former president did indeed agree to be recorded in on-the-record conversations for the book, some 19 interviews in total, in 2019 and 2020. “This case centers on Mr. Woodward’s systematic usurpation, manipulation, and exploitation of audio of President Trump gathered in connection with a series of interviews conducted by Mr. Woodward,” the lawsuit reads.
“Paramount, [Simon & Schuster] and Woodward proceeded with such publication despite knowing that President Trump had consented to being recorded only for the purposes of “the book,”… and never consented to release of any audio recording, inclusive of the Interview Sound Recordings,” declares the lawsuit. The lawsuit also named Simon & Schuster, Woodward’s publisher.
Trump is seeking $49 million in damages from Woodward in the latest in a slew of lawsuits from the litigious former reality star and real estate developer.
Trump sued CNN for $475 million in damages in early October:
CNN has sought to use its massive influence— purportedly as a “trusted” news source—to defame the Plaintiff in the minds of its viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically, culminating in CNN claiming credit for “[getting] Trump out” in the 2020 presidential election. CNN’s campaign of dissuasion in the form of libel and slander against the Plaintiff has only escalated in recent months as CNN fears the Plaintiff will run for president in 2024. As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left, CNN has tried to taint the Plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of “racist,” “Russian lackey,” “insurrectionist,” and ultimately “Hitler.”
CNN sought to have Trump’s lawsuit thrown out in November. “The Complaint seeks to silence any criticism of Plaintiff’s debunked claim that the 2020 presidential election was ‘stolen.’ The lawsuit, though, does not even try to prove this claim is true, for the simple reason that evidence of material election fraud does not exist,” CNN’s lawyers argued in their motion. “These claims are untenable and repugnant to a free press and open political debate.”
Trump also sued the Pulitzer Prize board in mid-December after the board completed a review of its awards to the Washington Post and the New York Times for their reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump demanded both papers have their Pulitzer’s rescinded for what he calls the “Russia hoax.” But, after a review of the reporting that won the prize, the Pulitzer board concluded no mistakes or inaccuracies were made by either paper.
