Does Trump have a libel case against The New York Times?
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explains on 'Fox & Friends' why he thinks the president's defamation suit over an op-ed on Russia will be dismissed and reacts to the White House's win in a sanctuary ruling.
The Trump campaign’s filing of a libel lawsuit against the so-called "extremely biased" New York Times was a "clever" move but the case will likely be “dismissed,” according to Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano.
The lawsuit argued that the newspaper's March 27, 2019 op-ed titled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo" amounted to a knowingly false smear intended to "improperly influence the presidential election in November 2020."
"They did a bad thing," Trump said at a coronavirus press conference later Wednesday, before hinting at more litigation. "There will be more coming. There will be more coming.”
The lawsuit seeks "compensatory damages in the millions of dollars," as well as punitive damages and legal fees. Knowing that then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller was about to exonerate Trump, the lawsuit argues in the lawsuit, the Times sought to quickly "damage" the president's campaign "before the Mueller Report would be released debunking the conspiracy claims."
“First of all, opinion is protected,” Napolitano told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday. He continued, “The president’s point is: this is an opinion — it’s not an opinion, it was presented as fact.”
Napolitano went on to say, “If it is an opinion, the case goes away because your opinion can be anything you want. The doctrine is called a fair comment.”
TRUMP SUES NEW YORK TIMES FOR LIBEL OVER RUSSIA 'CONSPIRACY' OP-ED
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Napolitano explained why he does not believe the campaign has "standing" to bring a libel lawsuit.
“The plaintiff is the [Trump] campaign, and under libel law here in New York, where they filed the complaint, a group can’t be the plaintiff, only an individual who's actually been harmed by the alleged defamation can be the plaintiff. Was the president harmed? I don’t think he was harmed, this statement came out after he was already president and it certainly didn’t harm him when he was running for president and it is not harming him now," Napolitano argued.
“It was actually, I think, a clever way of expanding libel law but I don’t think it will succeed.”
Fox News Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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