He says that, should he be elected, news organizations that have criticized him will “have problems”.
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“Trump talked about getting back at the media during a rally Friday in Fort Worth, Texas”. “We’re gonna open up those libel laws”. I’m not taking their money. When you act like a monster and the media calls you out, you can get mad but you can’t change the law to silence them.
At a rally today in Fort Worth, Texas, Trump railed against major newspapers and said if he wins the presidency he’ll “open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and frightful and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money”.
He then added, “With me, they’re not protected, because I’m not like other people…” But, I hate to tell you, Mr. Trump, it would be awfully hard for you to loosen up the libel laws if you were president. This precedent, which was set in the landmark Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan, establishes that plaintiffs must prove news organizations deliberately published inaccurate information.
But most libel laws are enforced at the state level, not as part of the federal judiciary.
Trump, who frequently belittles the media as “dishonest scum”, has accused several news outlets and journalists of lying about him.
Because the Supreme Court has repeatedly endorsed this legal standard, Trump could not change libel laws as they affect public figures by executive order or even with an act of Congress, Leslie said. He sometimes singles out specific reporters and news outlets for special ridicule. At a December 23 appearance in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he joked about killing journalists as the crowd thundered applause.
“I’ll tell you what, I think the media is among the most dishonest groups of people I’ve ever met”, Trump said to cheers. ‘The absolute worst. They have an agenda that you wouldn’t believe. And they’re totally incompetent.
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Politico also says (though this appears to be from before the start of their video) that Trump was saying that this was “One of the things I’m going to do if I win”. Trump last month threatened to sue the Post after the newspaper wrote an article about the bankruptcy of his Atlantic City casino.
