Donald Trump Puts ‘The New York Times’ on Notice
With the cozy relationship between the liberal mainstream media and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign now firmly established—thanks to WikiLeaks—it should come as no surprise they are actively seeking to help destroy Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The latest example—a New York Times article suggesting Trump inappropriately touched two women in the past—drew a much stronger reaction from the GOP candidate than other scandals supposedly dug up from his past. His campaign immediately released a stern statement blasting the contents of the article, then his attorneys had a message of their own for the Times.
“This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous,” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said. “To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election.
“It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all. Further, the Times story buries the pro-Clinton financial and social media activity on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, reinforcing that this truly is nothing more than a political attack. This is a sad day for the Times.”
A few hours later, attorney Marc Kasowitz of the law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman sent a cease-and-desist letter to Times executive editor Dean Baquet, demanding the newspaper retract the article in question. Calling the article “reckless” and “defamatory,” he said the newspaper committed libel in its publication.
Defamation laws vary state-to-state, but in most cases, they require a very immediate formal complaint to the media outlet. It would appear this letter would be the first step in just such a process.
“We hereby demand you immediately cease any further publication of this article, remove it from your website and issue a full and immediate retraction and apology,” Kasowitz wrote. “Failure to do so will leave my client with no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies.”
