El anuncio del sábado de que ABC acordó comprometer $15 millones para la fundación presidencial del presidente electo Donald Trump para resolver una demanda por difamación fue una victoria poco común para Trump en años de demandas contra organizaciones de noticias.
A raíz del acuerdo, Trump dijo el lunes en una conferencia de prensa en Florida que planeaba demandar al Des Moines Register por una encuesta y prometió continuar presentando demandas contra los medios de comunicación a los que durante mucho tiempo ha acusado de parcialidad.
Se quejó de que la encuestadora, J. Ann Selzer, “dijo que iba a perder por tres o cuatro puntos”, después de que encuestas anteriores en Iowa mostraran que ganaría fácilmente en el estado, “por 20 puntos”. Trump ganó el estado por 13 puntos.
“En mi opinión, fue fraude y fue interferencia electoral”, dijo, y agregó, “probablemente presentaremos una demanda importante contra ellos hoy o mañana”.
Lark-Marie Anton, portavoz del Registro de Des Moines, dijo en una declaración a CBS News: “Hemos reconocido que la encuesta preelectoral del Registro de Selzer/Des Moines no reflejó el margen final de la victoria del presidente Trump el día de las elecciones en Iowa. publicando la demografía completa de la encuesta, tablas cruzadas, datos ponderados y no ponderados, así como una explicación técnica de la encuestadora Ann Selzer”.
“Mantenemos nuestra información sobre el asunto y creemos que una demanda no tendría fundamento”, dijo Anton.
Este tipo de litigios es inusual para los presidentes, según la profesora de la Universidad de Ohio, Aimee Edmondson. Trump tiene un largo historial de demandar a los medios, dijo, aunque sus demandas no suelen tener éxito.
“Es una rareza que realmente ganara un acuerdo contra un medio periodístico, cuando vi eso me quedé asombrado”, dijo Edmondson, quien investiga el derecho de los medios y la historia del periodismo.
Trump ha demandado a CNN, The Washington Post y el New York Times varias veces, incluso durante su primer mandato. Es una táctica que siguió antes y después de su presidencia, demandando a periodistas y a sus editores de libros, y a los principales medios (incluido CBS News) por una cobertura que no le gustaba.
Edmondson dijo que las demandas parecen tener un beneficio adicional para Trump.
“Realmente ha hecho un buen trabajo repitiendo el mensaje de que los periodistas son enemigos del pueblo”, dijo Edmondson.
During the Monday press conference, Trump said: “I feel like I have to do this” and added: “It costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press”.
While Trump’s recent lawsuits have focused on media companies that are subsidiaries of wealthy corporations, Edmondson said she is concerned that they may inspire others to sue “family” local media in response to coverage.
“Think about local state and county officials, who might say: ‘Oh, this will be a great way to punish local journalists’,” Edmondson said.
Trump’s lawsuits often demand extraordinary figures from the defendants. Trump sued Timothy O’Brien after the journalist wrote a book questioning Trump’s claims about his own net worth, demanding $5 billion in damages. The case was dismissed and Trump later told a Washington Post journalist that he knew he couldn’t win the lawsuit.
“I spent a couple of dollars on legal fees and they spent a lot more. I did it to make his life miserable, which I’m glad about,” Trump said.
Trump sued ABC for defamation after host George Stephanolopous said Trump had been “found liable for rape” during an interview on March 10 with Republican representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
A unanimous civil jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexual assault of writer E. Jean Carroll. The sexual assault accusation included an allegation that Trump forcibly inserted his fingers inside Carroll against her will. The federal judge who presided over the case later wrote: “the jury implicitly concluded that Mr. Trump did in fact digitally rape Mrs. Carroll”.
Trump sued CBS News in October, accusing the network of “deceptive” editing in a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump has claimed that CBS News edited Harris’s response to a question about the conflict in the Middle East to deceive the public. He reiterated that claim on Monday.
“They took Kamala’s response, which was a crazy response, a horrible response, they took out the entire response and replaced it with something else she said later in the interview,” Trump claimed.
CBS News said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed that his claims “lack any basis”. The network said it will vigorously defend against the lawsuit.
CBS filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on December 6, arguing that the case is without merit and should not have been filed in Texas, where neither the defendant nor the plaintiff reside. CBS is based in New York and Trump lives in Florida.
Trump also sued journalist Bob Woodward and publisher Simon & Schuster in January 2023, alleging that Woodward made recordings of interviews conducted for the book “Rage” public without Trump’s permission.
Trump said on Monday that Woodward “did not quote me properly on the tapes” and claimed that Woodward “sold the tapes, which he was not allowed to do”.
The parent company of the publisher at the time, Paramount Global, was also named as a defendant. Paramount is also the parent company of CBS News.
Shortly after the case was filed, Simon & Schuster and Woodward issued a joint statement calling the lawsuit unfounded.
“All of these interviews were recorded and taped with President Trump’s knowledge and agreement,” the statement reads. “Additionally, it is in the public interest to have this historical record in Trump’s own words. We are confident that the facts and the law are on our side”.
The case is ongoing and the defendants have asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
In 2022, Trump sued the board that awards the most prestigious journalism award, the Pulitzer Prize. The case revolves around a statement made by the board reaffirming its decision to award The New York Times and The Washington Post a prize in 2018 for reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections.
An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller III later found “insufficient evidence to charge a wider conspiracy”.
Trump said on Monday that “it turned out to be a hoax and they were completely wrong”.
The Pulitzer Prize Board issued its statement after Trump asked it to revoke its 2018 awards. The board said that two independent reviews found that “no passage or headline, arguments or claims in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged after the awards were granted”.
In July, a Florida judge rejected an attempt by the defendants to dismiss the case. It is ongoing.