Tag: New York Times

Donald Trump Loses Libel Suit Against N.Y. Times

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In this midst of his campaign for reelection, Trump had sued over an opinion piece entitled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo.” 

On Tuesday, a New York judge dismissed a lawsuit that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign filed against The New York Times. The libel claim targeted an opinion column entitled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo,” by Max Frankel, who asserted that far from there being no electoral collusion, there had been an “overarching deal: the quid of help in the campaign against Hillary Clinton for the quo of a new pro-Russia foreign policy.” New York Supreme Court Justice James d’Auguste concludes that the commentary is nonactionable opinion, and even if otherwise, Trump has failed to show facts supporting actual malice.

The suit filed in Feb. 2020 was highly unusual insofar as presidential candidates not typically going to court in the midst of reelection campaigns. But to the extent that Trump was suing as part of an anti-media message, his attorney Charles Harder has been unsuccessful in carrying past a motion to dismiss. The judge also rejects the complaint  on the basis that Frankel’s statements are not “of and concerning,” the plaintiff — Donald J. Trump for President — but rather about Trump’s associates and family members.

The judge has denied an application from The New York Times for sanctions, though thanks to New York’s recently passed anti-SLAPP statute (which was recently interpreted to have retroactive effect in the ongoing suit from Sarah Palin against the NYT), there exists a decent possibility that the publication could soon attempt to seek its attorney fees and costs from Trump. Continue reading.

As Trump Sinks, Times Narrative Is Still ‘Dems In Disarray’

The staggering weight of America’s pandemic continues to come into view with each passing day, as the death toll and the number of lost jobs catapult to new heights. Politically, the carnage represents the worst possible news for the incumbent president, who now has to run for re-election against the grim backdrop of 50,000 deaths and 26 million unemployed, as consumer confidence collapses in record time.

Yet incredibly, the political press remains committed to its longtime ‘Dems In Disarray‘ narrative, deriding Democrats as being forever confused and outsmarted. (They’re not.) Specifically, the campaign coverage for November seems oddly focused on the supposed woes hounding Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

Left out or glossed over as the ‘Dems in Disarray’ drums bang loudly? In the last 42 polls regarding the Biden vs. Trump match-up, Biden leads in 39. And two of the other three are ties. How does the press look at that data and conclude that Biden’s the one facing steep hurdles? It’s Both Sides journalism on steroids. It’s a stalwart commitment to pretend the two candidates are facing equal challenges this campaign. (Did I mention the apocalyptic job losses under Trump?) Continue reading.

Behind Trump’s Latest Threat To Press Freedom

Wednesday was an ominous day for freedom of the press in this country, and I want to tell you why.

You may have heard or seen that President Trump filed a libel suit against the New York Times. Perhaps you weren’t surprised: the president is known to frequently disparage the Times even as he reads it obsessively. Borrowing a page from what I’ve referred to before as a Mount Rushmore of totalitarians, Robespierre, Hitler, Stalin and Mao, Trump loves to call the press the “enemy of the people.”

But Wednesday’s suit is an important step beyond bluster to try to silence the press using the legal system — and just days after the president announced that he considers himself the country’s “chief law enforcement officer.” Continue reading.

Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were the only two guests at a party with 28 women flown in for the ‘entertainment’: NYT report

AlterNet logoA new report from the New York Times on Tuesday revealed new details about the years-long friendship between President Donald Trump and the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The most bizarre revelation was the account of a party, told by Florida businessman George Houraney, at which Trump and Epstein were the only guests:

It was supposed to be an exclusive party at Mar-a-Lago, Donald J. Trump’s members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla. But other than the two dozen or so women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests were Mr. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

The year was 1992 and the event was a “calendar girl” competition, something that George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who ran American Dream Enterprise, had organized at Mr. Trump’s request.

“I arranged to have some contestants fly in,” Mr. Houraney recalled in an interview on Monday. “At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him and Epstein.”

View the complete July 10 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

New York Times Hits Back At Trump Claim Of ‘Phony’ Story On Migrant Detention

The president denied the paper’s report about nightmarish conditions at a Clint, Texas, facility.

The New York Times is hitting back at President Donald Trump after he accused the paper of fabricating a story about nightmarish conditions inside a Clint, Texas, migrant detention center.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted that the Times had written “phony and exaggerated accounts,” adding that “people should not be entering our Country illegally, only for us to then have to care for them.”

In response, the publication’s communications department told the president it stood by its reporting.

“We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting on the U.S. Border Patrol’s detention centers,” it said.

View the complete July 7 article by Amy Russo on the Huffington Post website here.

Trump attacks Paul Krugman after NYT columnist publishes scathing column on death of GOP

President Donald Trump on Tuesday inadvertently called attention to a scathing New York Times column written by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.

In an angry tweet, Trump wrote that “Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me.” Trump also wrote that Krugman “is obsessed with hatred, just as others are obsessed with how stupid he is.”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me. He is obsessed with hatred, just as others are obsessed with how stupid he is. He said Market would crash, Only Record Highs!

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In his latest column, Krugman argued that the Republican Party has shown it is completely devoid of ethics and only wants to hold and maintain power.

View the complete April 23 article by Brad Reed with Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump attacks media, says N.Y. Times should ‘beg for forgiveness’

After relative silence post-Mueller report, president explodes with two-hour Twitter rant

After days of media coverage describing the White House portrayed in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report as rife with dysfunction and ignored presidential orders, Donald Trump on Tuesday lambasted those who cover him.

He even suggested one of his top media targets, The New York Times, should “get down on their knees & beg for forgiveness.”

In one of his most explosive morning Twitter rants in months, the president went on an extended diatribe against the media that included mocking CNN and other outlets, and renewing his charge that MSNBC morning show host Joe Scarborough, a former GOP House member from Florida, is “psycho.”

View the complete April 23 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.

Trump declares New York Times ‘enemy of the people’

President Trump on Wednesday labeled The New York Times “a true enemy of the people” one day after an extensive report detailing the ways in which he has sought to influence the investigations into his presidency and allies.

“The New York Times reporting is false,” Trump tweeted. “They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”

The president’s tweet did not refute any specific reporting from the Times, but marked yet another escalation in his sustained attacks on his hometown paper and the media as a whole.

Want to Know More About: The New York Times Anonymous Op-Ed

Susan Glasser: “My Guess Is That The Good Professionals Over At The CIA, In Our Intelligence Community And FBI Who Are Used To Wielding The Polygraph Machine  Might Advise The President Against Using It On His Own Staff.” SUSAN GLASSER: “My guess is that the good professionals over at the CIA, in our intelligence community and FBI who are used to wielding the polygraph machine  might advise the president against using it on his own staff. If you are already paranoid and written by conspiracy theories, its not going to make you feel any better, that you don’t know who you can trust.”  [New Day, CNN, 9/7/18; Video]

Susan Glasser: “It Is Also Not Going To Make You Feel Any Better To Put Polygraph Tests In Front Of Your Aides And Have Some Of Them Fail. Who Is Donald Trump Going To Hire To Replace The Team He Has Around Him. The Turnover Is Already At Historic Unprecedented Mind Blowing Levels.” SUSAN GLASSER: “It is also not going to make you feel any better to put polygraph tests in front of your aides and have some of them fail. Who is Donald Trump going to hire to replace the team he has around him. The turnover is already at historic unprecedented mind blowing levels. I saw new numbers yesterday from Martha Kumar, 61% of the senior officials in the White House that have come and gone in this White House. Trump doesn’t have a lot of options left except to be alone and wonder who else he can trust.” [New Day, CNN, 9/7/18; Video]

‘It’s open season on the president’: Op-ed unleashes West Wing meltdown

The following article by Andrew Restuccia, Eliana Johnson, Christopher Cadelago and Annie Karni was posted on the Politico.com website September 5, 2018:

The New York Times op-ed came as the president was already struggling with fallout from Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book.

The hunt for the mole began as soon as The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed by a senior Trump administration official declaring that many in the government are working to thwart the president they serve.

One senior administration official described a White House in “total meltdown” by Wednesday evening, after the president went on television to directly attack the author and the Times, an assessment corroborated in interviews with more than a dozen current and former White House officials and outside advisers.

The op-ed, whose author described top aides working to restrain a reckless and amoral president and Cabinet officials considering constitutional measures to remove Trump from office, landed a day after excerpts from Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book “Fear” quoted senior aides dismissing the president’s capacity for office — and on the heels of Trump’s exile from official Washington during the weekend’s funeral services for onetime Republican standard-bearer John McCain.

View the complete article here.