This is a breaking news story and it’s already past 10:00 p.m. on the east coast, so don’t expect much more detail tonight. Daily Beast:
Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, three of its reporters, and his niece—claiming they hatched an “insidious plot” to obtain his private records for a story about his tax history. The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Dutchess County, New York, alleges that the newspaper convinced Mary Trump to “smuggle records out of her attorney’s office and turn them over to The Times” despite her having signed a confidentiality agreement. The suit demands damages “in an amount to be determined at trial, but believed to be no less than One Hundred Million Dollars ” from both Mary Trump, and the Times. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the suit.
This is a developing story…
Just another instance of Trumpty going off the rails and bouncing off the walls. We will know more later on the “insidious plot” and the “smuggling” of records. Right now it all sounds like a grade-Z movie plot, which means that Trump may have insisted on drafting some of the language himself.
$100,000,000 is a nice chunk of change. Let’s see what happens.
As to the identity of the reporters, I would have to say that Maggie Haberman is a no brainer. Anybody else want to throw out names? I just looked in her Twitter feed and she’s not saying anything.
Trump may be doing this for one of two reasons:
- He’s found out what the Manhattan district attorney has and he’s freaked out;
- He’s hoping to fight fire with fire by claiming in advance that it’s all an insidious plot. This will be Big Lie 2, or maybe 3. Big Lie 2 is said to be the disinformation about the coronavirus, so Big Lie 3 could be framed as Trump’s disinformation campaign when it’s proven that he’s not only not a billionaire but that he’s pretty pathetic on paper. “A clown living on credit,” as he’s been called.
If he does a preemptive strike like this, then if it’s proven that he’s really only worth $150 Million or some such, and the rest is smoke and mirrors, then he can claim that it’s a plot. Who are you going to believe, him or Fake News? You know what the GQP will say.
Stay tuned. It’s yet another side road in an already nutty journey.
It isn’t like his habit of undervaluing property for taxes and overvaluing it for sales wasn’t already known. So was his habit of cheating people out of earned money. And his treatment of his brother and his brother’s kids.
Per Yahoo News……
“ While Times reporters David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner—who won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2019 for what they revealed about the taxes the former president had refused to disclose—also weren’t party to the confidentiality agreement Mary Trump had signed in 2001, the former president’s new suit claims they were “directly responsible,” citing her interview with Molly Jong-Fast on The Daily Beast’s The New Abnormal podcast while claiming the reporters were “motivated, at least in part, by their actual malice” toward Trump:”
Such a moroon.
*smirk*
I’m wondering about the sinking ship that Trump and his gold plated, (basically a powdered aluminum paint with a golden colorant), business that really wasn’t good at anything but criminal dodging responsible bookkeeping/tax records …
His biggest lie started years ago, implying/lying that he was indeed a billionaire, when in reality his ventures all lead to huge losses and continuous escape using false claims and records to generate his real talent … Bankruptcy … Then, another talent, not paying his workers, not maintaining properties … kitchens full of insects and vermin … Bedbugs in the guest suites …
Mary would not need to risk her certificate and personal freedom to frame her Uncle … Way too smart for that and her books are doing quite well, so trump indeed has flown the white flag of surrender, he just does not realize it yet … There are just too many things gaining on his limited time of freedom and his slipping sanity is dominating everyone’s perception of Trump’s well-being … He IS the world’s biggest loser …
The divide between Trump and Republican supporters has become a larger gap because his public displays have become such a frantic grab for the brass ring on the merry-go-round, that the general public pool of citizens, can now begin to see his failed attempts to raise funds for his defense instead of doing things he has claimed …
The fundamental problem with lawsuits are the unintended consequences of depositions under oath. It can get ugly & expensive if you aren’t on the side of evidence, facts, & the truth. They can be the existential poster for the old saying, ‘be careful what you ask for, you just might get it’.
Nothing like waiting three years to sue.
Didn’t a judge rule many years ago (in relation to her book) that the ‘non-disclosure didn’t apply to the publisher. It would folow that the same non-disclosure wouldn’t apply to the newspapers as they never signed it either.
Queens County Surrogate’s Court Judge Peter Kelly dismissed an injunction request just two days after it was filed, without waiting for a response from Mary’s lawyers.
Kelly noted that the filing was “fatally defective” because, among other things, it was lodged in connection with a probate proceeding in Surrogate’s Court for the estate of real estate developer Fred Trump Sr., which terminated in 2001, and which as a result is “non-existent” in that court.
This development is exactly why the NY prosecutors and the house committee shouLd never drag their feet. a pre-emptive strike by Trump is his surest way of trying to sway opinion against his loser status. “The fix is in” defense is his lifeline and needs to be cut today!