Trump campaign sues New York Times for libel
Trump campaign sues over 2019 op-ed; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'
The Trump reelection campaign’s libel lawsuit against The New York Times is the president's way of punching back against media bias, "The Five" hosts said Thursday.
Co-host and attorney Emily Compagno said the lawsuit makes a statement and sends a clear message to the mainstream media.
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"It's the statement this makes," Compagno said, "which is the president saying 'I'm sick of this...and guess what, I have endless bankroll for this so you guys can use your bank to try to defend it.'"
The lawsuit argued that the newspaper's March 27, 2019 op-ed titled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo" amounted to a knowingly false smear intended to "improperly influence the presidential election in November 2020."
When asked about the details of the lawsuit Wednesday, Trump slammed the Times for doing a "bad thing" and promised more litigation.
"If I were him in that moment, I would have said, 'Look, they are claiming it's merely an opinion piece,'" Compagno explained.
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"That being said, if you have malicious intent and you disregard truth and diligence, and you publish it anyway and you know it to be false ... that is why we are suing," she added.
Co-host Dana Perino said that while the president's defense that the story caused tangible damage to his campaign may not hold up in court, it could benefit the president's reelection chances nonetheless.
"It helps him because he wants to push back," she said. "'We can try this. Might not win in court, but we can try it and he gets a lot of publicity' ... we are talking about it now."
However, Trump might not be the only one who benefits from the lawsuit, Perino added.
"I also think it helps The New York Times," she said. "Their subscriptions have gone up. Everyone in media is doing better during the Trump presidency."
Greg Gutfeld urged the Times to apologize to the president, while Juan Williams emphasized that the op-ed was clearly categorized as an opinion story.
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"I don't want to be sued when I'm wrong. But then again, legitimately, I always admit when I'm wrong," Gutfeld said. "I admit that I'm wrong on everything. It actually really feels good. Maybe if these people admit they are wrong, he would drop the suit."
"I don't know," Williams responded. "You and I have different opinions on different issues ... I don't say that your opinion is fake. I just say it's an opinion."
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Williams added that he believes the "frivolous lawsuit" is intended to "intimidate the press and intimidate people."
"Maybe it's red meat for the base, but I think it's really low-grade red meat," he said.
Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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