Incident Details
President-elect Donald Trump gives a victory speech to his supporters at a rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 6, 2024. During his address, he referred to the media as “the enemy camp.”
In the week before the 2024 election, attorneys representing Donald Trump pursued legal action against multiple news outlets they alleged were biased against the Republican nominee and had defamed him or attempted to sway the election in favor of his opponent.
An attorney in Palm Beach, Florida, sent a letter to The New York Times and Penguin Random House in late October, according to the Columbia Journalism Review, demanding $10 billion in damages for “false and defamatory statements” about Trump by multiple Times journalists.
The letter, reviewed by CJR, pointed to articles by Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner.
“There was a time, long ago, when the New York Times was considered the ‘newspaper of record,’” the letter reportedly said. “Those halcyon days have passed.” CJR added that the letter accused the Times of being “a full-throated mouthpiece of the Democratic Party” that employs “industrial-scale libel against political opponents.”
The Times responded to the letter Oct. 31, according to CJR, directing Trump’s attorney to Penguin Random House for claims concerning the book coauthored by Buettner and Craig, and stating that it stands by the reporting of its staff. A spokesperson for the Times declined to comment when reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
That same day, attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on Trump’s behalf against CBS Broadcasting, alleging that the network was attempting to influence the election by favorably editing an interview with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
In the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Trump charges CBS “doctored” a Harris exchange over U.S. relations with Israel as part of an effort to “confuse, deceive, and mislead the public” about her alleged weaknesses as a candidate.
Trump had repeatedly disparaged the network since the interview aired Oct. 7, threatening legal action, demanding it release unedited tapes and transcripts and calling for CBS to be taken off the air.
In an emailed statement to the Tracker, a spokesperson for CBS said: “Former President Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false. The Interview was not doctored; and ‘60 Minutes’ did not hide any part of the Vice President’s answer to the question at issue. ‘60 Minutes’ fairly presented the Interview to inform the viewing audience, and not to mislead it.”
The spokesperson added, “The lawsuit Trump has brought today against CBS is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend against it.”
The suit — in which Trump also sought $10 billion in damages — bases its claims on CBS’ alleged violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act, normally meant to protect consumers from being misled by advertisers.
But several legal observers dismissed the claim as frivolous. First Amendment expert Floyd Abrams told CNN the First Amendment was drafted to protect the press from such lawsuits, and scholar Geoffrey Stone called it a “misapplication” of the law.
“That statute is about sales — a salesperson can be held liable for stating that a product has certain positive effects when he knows it doesn’t,” Stone told CBS News. “But CBS is not engaged in advertising here.”
On Nov. 5, Trump’s campaign co-chief Chris LaCivita also issued a letter to The Daily Beast, demanding that it correct articles stating that LaCivita raised $22 million for Trump’s reelection, CJR reported.
In response, the outlet added editor’s notes stating: “Based on a further review of FEC records, the correct total is $19.2m. The Beast regrets the error. The article has also been updated to make clear that payments were to LaCivita’s LLC not to LaCivita personally.”
Trump’s campaign found the note insufficient and, according to CJR, said in a follow-up legal letter that it “does not remedy the overall messaging of the story—which depicts Mr. LaCivita as deceptively pocketing campaign money for his own personal gain and that he was and is on the verge of being ‘fired’ because of it.”
The Beast did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Trump has sustained his hostile comments toward the press in the wake of the election: During his Nov. 6 victory speech, for instance, he referred to the media as “the enemy camp,” and he has continued his tirades against journalists on social media.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
