A lawyer for President-elect Donald Trump sent a letter to Penguin Random House and the New York Times threatening to sue the publisher and the newspaper for defamation, Columbia Journalism Review reports.
Andrew Paltzik, an attorney for Trump, accused Times reporters Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner of making “false and defamatory statements” about Trump in their reporting on the president-elect.
Buettner and Craig are the authors of Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, which Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, published in September. The book casts a skeptical look at Trump’s business acumen, claiming that his financial success is more smoke and mirrors than reality.
Paltzik’s letter demanded $10 billion in damages. “There was a time, long ago, when the New York Times was considered the ‘newspaper of record,’” the attorney wrote in the letter. “Those halcyon days have passed.”
Penguin Random House did not comment to Columbia Journalism Review.
The literary nonprofit PEN America commented on the letter in a news release. “President-elect Donald Trump’s legal threats mark an ominous start to his transition to the White House, signaling his intent to escalate attacks on journalism and publishing,” said Tim Richardson, the organization’s program director for journalism and disinformation. “These threats aren’t about stopping false reporting or even winning cases that are brought—they’re about intimidating journalists, writers, and publishers into self-censorship.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
