Sheldon Whitehouse certainly does have a point re: trump threatening to sue CNN 😂

[catbyte]

Link to tweet

It’s almost worth being sued to gain the chance to take a deposition of President Trump under oath, the thing he desperately avoids. That would be SO enjoyable...https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-cnn/trump-threatens-to-sue-cnn-seeks-substantial-payment-over-damages-letter-idUSKBN1WX2B1 …

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This lawsuit threat sounds like something from The Onion.

Trump threatens to sue CNN, seeks 'substantial' payment over damages: letter

Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump and his re-election campaign have threatened in a letter to sue CNN for what they said was the network falsely advertising itself as a news organization, calling on executives to first discuss an “appropriate resolution” to the matter that would include a “substantial” payment to cover damages.

The letter, dated Oct. 16 and made public on Friday, is the latest threat by Trump to sue a media organization over what he sees as unfair media coverage since launching his 2016 presidential campaign, although no lawsuits have been filed.

“This is nothing more than a desperate PR stunt and doesn’t merit a response,” a CNN spokesman said in an email.

Rebecca Tushnet, a professor of false advertising law at Harvard Law School, said there was “no merit” to the letter’s legal arguments and that she doubted a lawsuit would ever be filed.

snip

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-cnn/trump-threatens-to-sue-cnn-seeks-substantial-payment-over-damages-letter-idUSKBN1WX2B1

[LiberalFighter]

1. Who are the lawyers making the threat?

Need to out them.

[gratuitous]

4. Charles J. Harder of Harder LLP

See the letter here:

Link to tweet

[gratuitous]

2. Trump would dismiss the suit before being deposed

He'd say something crapulous like, "I think I proved my point and I'm dismissing the lawsuit. CNN has promised to be fairer to your favorite President (Me!)." None of it would be true, of course, but that wouldn't matter to Trump's loyal fans.

[abqtommy]

6. tRUMP probably would move to dismiss on the advice of legal counsel. He himself is

too ignorant to realize that the opposition deposition and discovery would just add to the already-lengthy list of impeachable offenses he has committed.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Fat Nixon seems to be scraping the bottom of the legal profession's barrel,

and found himself a couple of guys who might have been poli-sci majors in college but haven't been able to pass the LSAT even on their third try, and in the meantime have been rummaging through the dumpsters behind various law offices to try to find reasonably unsoiled letterhead on which to write a demand letter that proves they've never heard of New York Times v. Sullivan. He tried getting Saul Goodman to take the case but Saul said it would violate his ethical standards.

[alwaysinasnit]

5. 45 loves to bluff, doesn't he? And he is very familiar with malice.

[spanone]

7. Just the way trump runs his business....screw and sue

[LiberalFighter]

8. How does the Lanham Act apply to this?

I read it to apply to trademarks. Nothing to do with the media.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. I think they are using it to claim that CNN made false statements "in commerce"

and that its allegedly false statements caused harm to Trump as a consumer or a business. It's a stretch.
15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1) says:

(1)Any person who, on or in connection with any goods or services, or any container for goods, uses in commerce any word, term, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof, or any false designation of origin, false or misleading description of fact, or false or misleading representation of fact, which—

(A)is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of his or her goods, services, or commercial activities by another person, or

(B)in commercial advertising or promotion, misrepresents the nature, characteristics, qualities, or geographic origin of his or her or another person’s goods, services, or commercial activities,

shall be liable in a civil action by any person who believes that he or she is or is likely to be damaged by such act.

[NastyRiffraff]

9. It's a clumsy effort at intimidation

Trump has pulled this kind of shit before. No lawsuit ever materialized.

Meanwhile, we have the spectacle of the president of the United States threatening to sue a major media outlet.

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. That, and lack of any merit is why no lawsuit will be filed

But if Trump did have to do a deposition, he would fold and collapse like a 50-cent garage sale lawn chair.