US President-elect Donald Trump has three ongoing lawsuits against the media in a pattern described as “a campaign of legal intimidation… for publishing journalism he doesn’t like”.
The scale of the legal action from an incoming president has raised concerns about threats to the free press in a country where the First Amendment of its Constitution is intended to protect freedom of speech.
At the end of the 2024 Trump secured $15m from ABC and ABC News in a settlement after presenter George Stephanopoulos repeatedly stated that the former president had been “found liable for rape”. In fact a jury found him liable for sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll.
Axios has reportedly advised staff that it fears the new Trump administration will aggressively try to obtain journalists’ sources and further ramp up legal threats.
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ US, Canada, and Caribbean programme coordinator Katherine Jacobsen said: “Using the courts to go after political enemies and silence what he perceives as unflattering narratives is concerning behaviour from the president-elect. Journalists and news organisations must be free to do their jobs and cover the news without constant fear of legal retaliation from those they are covering.”
Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders in the US, said: “Ahead of his return to office, President-elect Trump is pushing forward with a campaign of legal intimidation against media outlets for publishing journalism he doesn’t like.
“Trump doesn’t need to win in court for his vindictive lawfare campaign to work. These lawsuits tie up an outlet’s resources that are much needed elsewhere, especially for smaller news outlets without the means to withstand well-financed legal attacks or coordinated political attacks from Trump and his allies. Media owners must not give in.”
The ongoing lawsuits being brought by Trump against the media are summarised below. We will keep this page updated with any major developments.
Trump versus Pulitzer Prize Board
The New York Times and Washington Post jointly won the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting in 2018 for their reporting of allegations about connections between Russia and the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 election. Government organisations have since found no evidence of collusion.
Trump and others complained about the prize being awarded and the Pulitzer Prize Board subsequently undertook two independent reviews of the reporting. In July 2022 it published a statement reaffirming its backing for the journalism.
This gave Trump a new opportunity to sue, having missed the one-year limitation period to pursue The New York Times or Washington Post.
The Board attempted to get the case dismissed on the basis that their statement was “pure opinion” but in July a judge turned them down, finding that the “adequate factual foundation” for the decision made about the award was withheld from readers.
Trump vs Bob Woodward
Investigative journalist Bob Woodward, best known for breaking news of the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post, wrote a book, Trump Tapes, based on 20 interviews carried out with the then-president between 2016 and 2020.
Trump claims he did not give permission for Woodward to sell the audio recordings of their interviews, which became part of the audiobook. He is also suing the publisher, Simon & Schuster.
A judge is currently considering Woodward’s motion to dismiss. Trump put in a request to speed up the case last month but this was denied.
Trump’s attorney Robert Garson had said: “President Trump is keen to advance this case, vindicate his rights and ensure that future violations do not occur during his upcoming presidential term.”
Garson specifically pointed to the ABC News settlement, saying the broadcaster “recognised the error of their ways and have shown their level of regret in words and deed”.
Trump vs CBS
In the days ahead of the presidential election in November Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS over the edit of an interview it had held with his opponent Kamala Harris. He is seeking $10m in damages.
Trump claimed the 60 Minutes interview was “partisan” and amounted to “unlawful acts of election and voter interference” intended to “mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales” in favour of Harris.
Trump also wrote on Truth Social that CBS “should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS — and maybe even WORSE!”
In December CBS filed two motions to dismiss Trump’s claim, with one claiming he had chosen to file in a Texas court improperly. Some reports have characterised it as “judge shopping”.
The second motion pointed out that Trump’s claim that the interview had cost him donations was moot because he had won the election – and that this would have affected his campaign rather than him personally anyway.
Trump vs Des Moines Register
In December it was revealed Trump is suing local newspaper the Des Moines Register and its parent company Gannett over a poll it reported on in the days before the election wrongly projecting a surprise lead for Harris in Iowa. Trump is also targeting the pollster, J. Ann Selzer.
Unusually the claim is not for defamation but under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act.
The Register said in a statement that it had already acknowledged the poll “did not reflect the ultimate margin of President Trump’s Election Day victory in Iowa” and published its full dataset as well as a technical explanation from Selzer.
“We stand by our reporting on the matter and believe a lawsuit would be without merit.”
Trump vs CNN
Trump is appealing the 2023 dismissal of a defamation lawsuit he brought against CNN over the way it repeatedly describes his false claims he won the 2020 election as the “big lie”.
A judge had said the phrase, as well as a description of Trump as “Hitler-like”, was an opinion, not a fact.
Trump’s other attacks on the media
Trump’s threats to the media in the two years prior to his re-election included speaking at rallies about jailing reporters, editors and publishers who publish leaks such as the draft Supreme Court opinion about abortion rights shared by Politico in May 2022.
In September 2023 he wrote on his platform Truth Social that NBC News should be investigated for treason for its “one-sided and vicious” coverage of allegations relating to Russia.
In September 2024 he said ABC’s broadcasting licence should be taken away because of its fact-checks about his claims during the TV debate he participated in with Kamala Harris.
Trump told Fox News: “The press is so dishonest in this country, it’s amazing. Now, I didn’t mind because frankly I was pretty sure that was what they would do… so many things I said were totally debunked… and she could say anything she wanted… I thought it was terrible from the standpoint of ABC, they’re the most dishonest, in my opinion the most dishonest news organisation, and that’s saying a lot because they’re all essentially really dishonest.”
The chair of the Federal Communications Commission pushed back on Trump’s threat over ABC’s licence, saying: “The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The Commission does not revoke licences for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
