Former President Trump’s “Truth Social” has filed a $3.78 billion defamation lawsuit against newspaper The Washington Post.
QUICK FACTS:
- Trump’s “Truth Social” media firm has filed a lawsuit against The Washington Post, seeking $3.78 billion in damages.
- The case, which was filed over the weekend in Sarasota County, Florida, claims that the news outlet published false statements concerning the Truth Social platform, damaging its reputation and causing financial harm.
- “WaPo has been on a years-long crusade against TMTG characterized by the concealment of relevant information in its possession—a bitterly ironic truth for a publication whose motto is “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” the suit claims.
- The lawsuit focused on an article that used information from former Trump Media and Technology Group employee Will Wilkerson, who was also the source of another “money laundering” story by The Guardian.
- “On May 13, 2023, WaPo published an online article with the clickbait headline, ‘Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump’s Truth Social’ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/13/trump-truth-socialloan-questions/ (the “WaPo Article”)],” the suit continued.
TRUMP MEDIA GROUP’S LAWSUIT AGAINST THE WASHINGTON POST FOR “DEFAMATION”:
“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 suit says.
BACKGROUND:
- In May 2020, the Washington Post falsely claimed criminal George Floyd was “shot and killed” by police.
- However, evidence confirmed Floyd was not shot by police, rather a jury concluded Floyd’s death occurred after former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on top of Floyd’s neck.
- “On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was shot and killed in police custody. His death sparked outrage, wide scale protests and calls to change policing,” WaPo’s now-deleted tweet read. “Two years later, what has—or hasn’t changed?”
- Widely shared video evidence showed officer Chauvin had held his knee to the back of Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes, reportedly contributing in his death.
- Jessica O’Donnell, an analyst for The Blaze, tweeted, along with a picture of WaPo’s false tweet, that “George Floyd was not shot. If they lie when you know the truth, you better believe they’re lying when you don’t have video evidence.”
- WaPo later admitted the error, tweeting, “We’ve deleted a previous tweet for this form that included language that was changed after published.”
