Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Friday vowed to "open up" libel laws in order to sue media outlets that write "purposely negative" and "horrible" articles about him.
"I'm gonna open up our libel laws, so when they write purposely negative and horrible, false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money," Trump said at a rally in Fort Worth, Texas.
"We're going to open up those libels laws," he added. "So that when The New York Times writes a hit piece, which is a total disgrace, or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money."
"You see, with me, they're not protected, because I'm not like other people, but I'm not taking money. I'm not taking their money. We're going to open up libel laws, and we're going to have people sue you like you've never got sued before."
Trump, who has a contentious relationship with the media and has accused several members of the press of treating him unfairly, did not offer additoinal details about the plan.
The billionaire businessman’s comments came moments after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ended his own Republican presidential bid after a poor showing in New Hampshire, endorsed him for president."
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Andrew Jackson's mother: On being an honorable man: "indict no man for assault and battery, nor sue him for slander."
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We Investigated, Donald Trump is Named in at Least 169 Federal Lawsuits
"...Just a note, the cases listed below only include those filed in U.S. federal court. Who knows how many others were filed in state courts around the country."....
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With GOP nomination looming, Trump is slated to take witness stand in fraud trial
"Here's a part of the political calendar that nobody in the Republican Party seems to have noticed: This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced to take time out for some unwanted personal business: He's due to take the witness stand in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where he is being accused of running a financial fraud. In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists. That makes it all but certain that the reality-show star and international businessman will be forced to be grilled under oath over allegations in the lawsuit that he engaged in deceptive trade practices and scammed thousands of students who enrolled in his "university" courses in response to promises he would make them rich in the real estate market.
Although the case has been winding its way through the courts for the past five years - and Trump has denied all wrongdoing - the final pretrial conference is now slated for May 6, according to the latest pleadings in the case. No trial date has been set, but the judge has indicated his interest in moving the case forward, the pleadings show.
"This is pretty amazing," said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican Party consultant, about Trump's upcoming due date in federal court. "Usually, you clean this stuff up before you run for president."............................ Trump is accused of financially threatening woman during secret deposition
........."Trump has made little secret of his inclination to strike back hard - on the campaign trail and in the courts - against anybody who opposes him. But the secret deposition in the San Diego case calls attention to the danger that a Trump presidency could turn into what one lawyer who has sued Trump called a "litigation circus" in which a sitting president would be forced to submit to multiple depositions and even jury trials as a result of ongoing civil lawsuits.
Little noticed while he has emerged as the Republican frontrunner for president, Trump remains mired in litigation on multiple fronts. In addition to defending the Trump University suits, he has initiated legal action in the past year against restaurateurs and the Univision network after they pulled out of business deals over his comments about Mexican immigrants. He has also recently threatened to sue rival Ted Cruz on the grounds that he is not eligible to be president because he was born in Canada. At a CNN forum Thursday night, in response to a question about his propensity to threaten opponents with lawsuits, Trump replied, in part, "I have wonderful lawyers. I like to send letters." Just last week - three days before Makaeff made her court filing - a judge in Washington, D.C., overruled the objections of Trump's lawyers and ordered him to submit to a deposition in a suit he filed against one of the restaurateurs.
As Yahoo News noted in August, none of these cases would go away were Trump elected president. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that presidents are not immune from civil litigation while in office, rejecting Bill Clinton's claim that he should not be subjected to a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former Arkansas state employee, Paula Jones."
Texas governor Abbott once chased Trump University from Lone Star State
.....The "university," which actually was a real-estate training package that awarded no accredited degrees, is now defunct. There are currently three active lawsuits against Trump and Trump University: one by the New York attorney general's office and two related California class actions.
The plaintiffs allege Trump and Trump University defrauded thousands of people throughout the country by selling real-estate training packages, ranging from $1,495 workshops to a "Gold Elite" program that cost up to $34,995, and came with "mentoring" - pledges of personal coaching on real-estate deals from Trump University instructors.
But the first major shot at Trump University came from Texas in January 2010. That's when Abbott's assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection and Public Health Division, Rick Berlin, began a probe of whether the operation violated Texas' Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act.
In a "civil investigative demand" mailed to university corporate offices at Trump's 40 Wall Street address, Abbott's office sought financial records; promotional and advertising material, such as that used to promote Trump University seminars in Texas; talking points and sales scripts used by seminar leaders to encourage people to purchase the paid programs; and names of all Texans who "purchased your workshop or mentoring program" from January 2008 to the present.
Rather than respond and turn over the requested documents, Trump University agreed to cease doing business in Texas.
Later that year, Trump University stopped operations altogether."...
This kind of stuff worries me. It seems irrational and vindictive, but the reality is, being President is a full time job, if you are doing it right. And “suing for lots of money” should not be the goal of pushing for legislation.
Just a thought.
Of course, your tiddlywink thinking & Trump's 3-D chess thinking don't even use the same playing board... :)
Shut up or sue.....
Is Trump gonna sue mexico when they tell him to eff off when he send them the bill for his wall? China when they raise tariffs on US goods because Trump did it to their goods?