WASHINGTON — President Trump’s reelection campaign filed a libel lawsuit against The Washington Post on Tuesday — accusing the newspaper of publishing “defamatory” columns suggesting it sought reelection help from Russia and North Korea.
The campaign is seeking “millions of dollars” over two June 2019 reports which they believe shows “The Post’s systematic pattern of bias” against President Trump.
The complaint comes less than a week after President Trump’s reelection campaign filed a similar libel lawsuit against The New York Times over a 2019 column which accused his camp of working with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton.
The latest suit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, points to two Washington Post reports accusing the Trump campaign of conspiring with Russia and North Korea.
According to the suit, Greg Sargent’s June 13 column contained the defamatory claim that Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded the campaign “tried to conspire with” a “sweeping and systematic” attack by Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
“The Mueller Report concluded there was no conspiracy between the Campaign and the Russian government, and no United States person intentionally coordinated with Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election,” the complaint said.
Another article by Paul Waldman on June 20 claimed: “Who knows what sort of aid Russia and North Korea will give to the Trump campaign, now that he has invited them to offer their assistance?”
According to the suit, there has been no statement about the campaign “inviting” the assistance of the two countries.
“The articles at issue herein also are part of the The Post’s systematic pattern of bias against the Campaign, designed to maliciously interfere with and damage its reputation and ultimately cause the organization to fail,” the suit reads.
The Washington Post did not immediately return a request for comment.