Former President Donald Trump’s media company, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) filed a defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post. TMTG, which owns the social media platform Truth Social, is seeking nearly $4 billion in damages.
According to Just The News, Trump’s company recently filed the lawsuit in a Florida state court in Sarasota County, which alleges that the Washington Post “published an egregious hit piece that falsely accused TMTG of securities fraud and other wrongdoing.”
It 'Has Been A Years-Long Crusade': Donald Trump SUES The Washington Post For Defamation Over Truth Social Coveragehttps://t.co/1F73QarcId
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 21, 2023
The lawsuit also accused the newspaper of creating a campaign against TMTG, purposely hiding relevant information in its possession. It argues that the false criminal charges made by the Washington Post have led TMTG to become ridiculed and distrusted, leading to damages to the company’s business and reputation.
“WaPo’s latest defamation creates an existential threat for TMTG, causing enormous loss. TMTG brings this case to recover special damages to its business and good will, actual injury to its name and reputation, and punitive damages for WaPo’s gross misconduct,” the lawsuit states.
In October 2022, Trump also filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN, seeking nearly $500 million in damages. The lawsuit accused CNN of creating false statements about the former president, harming his reputation. It also sought compensation for the damages caused by the network’s “false and defamatory” 2016 election coverage.
“Beyond simply highlighting any negative information about the plaintiff and ignoring all positive information about him, 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,” the lawsuit against CNN states.
In 2017, Project Veritas, a conservative investigative group, released an undercover video of a CNN producer admitting that his network’s coverage of Trump’s now-debunked “collusion” with Russia in 2016 was based on ratings, not provable facts.
TMTG’s legal action comes weeks after the Washington Post was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for its reporting in 2022, and Fox News settled a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for approximately $790 million.
Recently, a New York Supreme Court judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the New York Times, which was filed regarding the newspaper’s reporting on Trump’s tax records. The judge dismissed the case and ordered the former president to cover all expenses relating to the lawsuit.
