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JUST IN: Trump Sues Corporate Media Outlets For Billions

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President-elect Donald Trump has begun to make good on his vow to bring retribution against his enemies in the media.

Trump on Friday filed suit against a slew of mainstream media outlets including the New York Times, CBS, and others he has accused of “defaming and disparaging” him during coverage of the election and seeks to collect billions of dollars in damages. The Guardian reported that the Times was central to the lawsuit given previous cease-and-desist letters sent by attorneys for President Trump which accused the paper of being “a full-throated mouthpiece of the Democratic party” that wages “industrial-scale libel against political opponents.” The Times, lawyers add in the 19-page filing, had “every intention of defaming and disparaging the world-renowned Trump brand that consumers have long associated with excellence, luxury, and success in entertainment, hospitality, and real estate, among many other industries, as well as falsely and maliciously defaming and disparaging him as a candidate for the highest office in the United States.”

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Four Times reporters were named for their coverage: Peter Baker, Michael S Schmidt, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner, who lawyers accused of making “false and defamatory statements,” especially in two prominent articles that were later included in a book by Craig and Buettner titled, “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.” One ran October 20th under the headline “For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment” while the second, two days later, screamed “As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator.”

Through their publisher Penguin Random House, both reporters said they stood by their reporting.

In the crosshairs as well is CBS News, which the Trump team accused of deceptively editing a “60 Minutes” interview featuring Vice President Kamala Harris. The “election interference,” attorneys write, was part of a conspiracy by the mainstream outlet to go “into overdrive to get Kamala elected.” The letter accuses CBS of “partisan and unlawful acts of voter interference through malicious, deceptive and substantial news distortion.” A spokesperson for the outlet said the suit is “completely without merit” and that it would “vigorously defend” against the allegations.

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The suit isn’t the first legal action taken toward the end of a dizzying election season. On Election Day, Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita sent a letter to the Daily Beast demanding a retraction of its piece which stated that he pocketed $22 million by working for Trump. The outlet later added an editor’s note clarifying the correct amount is $19.2 million; however, 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 operative’s attorneys wrote. “This entire narrative is completely false and a result of malicious and irresponsible reporting by the Daily Beast,” the letter added.

Mainstream outlets and journalist organizations have decried President Trump’s rhetoric about their peers, accusing the president-elect of encouraging violence against them by uttering phrases such as the “enemy within” that must be eliminated. Following Trump’s win, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement, “Attacking the press is really an attack on American citizens’ right to know. Trump’s new administration can and must change its tune with the media and take concrete steps to protect journalists and develop a climate conducive to a robust and pluralistic news media.”

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