Former President Donald Trump, 76, sued 79-year-old Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward and his publisher Simon & Schuster for $50 million, a division of Paramount Global, for unlawfully publishing in person and phone interviews during 2019 and 2020. Trump claims he had no clue that Woodward would use the interviews to discredit his 2020 campaign discussing such hot-button tops as the deadly novel coronavirus and North Korea. Trump filed his suit in federal court, Pensacola, Florida’s Southern District. “This case centers on Mr. Woodward’s systematic usurpation, manipulation and exploitation of audio of President Trump,” said Trump’s lawyers. Trump’s lawyers Robert Garson and Yanina Zilberman, claiming that Woodward sold about 2 million copies at $24.99 to arrive at the $50 million figure, claiming Woodward was not authorized to publish the confidential recordings.
Woodward and Simon & Schuster claim that the recordings were done on the record for a future book, whether written or audio, at a time of Mr. Woodward’s choosing. Woodward published his book “Rage,” a month after the last interview in 2020, perfect timing for the Democrat strategy of discrediting Trump’s management of the Covid-19 global pandemic. In a Jan. 28, 2020 interview, Woodward claimed that Trump knew everything about the Covid-19 global pandemic but chose to ignore the deadly effects of the new virus. Woodward knows that there were no deaths in the U.S. at the time, no matter how many bodies stacked up on the streets of Wuhan, China, the presumed epicenter of the viral outbreak. Woodward used his private tape recordings to present Trump as deceiving the American public, minimizing the lethality of the virus that would take over one million U.S. lives.
.Trump granted the interviews to Woodward thinking his stature as a Watergate-famed journalists would etch Trump’s position in history. Trump surely knew that Woodward, a lifelong Democrat, would use every word to discredit his 2020 presidential run. Trump’s contention that the interviews were authorized only for a purpose of a written book is disputed by Woodward and Simon & Schuster. Trump’s attorney’s claim that Woodward misrepresented in-person or phone interviews. “They were done voluntarily,” Woodward told CNN about the interviews. “It was all on the record,” meaning that everything recorded was fair game for any future dissemination. Trump didn’t like the contents because instead of making him look good, it did exactly the opposite, no surprise for the journalist that despised Trump policies and bombast. Woodward used the interviews to smear Trump politically.
Woodward claimed in his 2020 book “Rage,” that Trump knew everything but did nothing on Jan. 28, 2020 when they discussed the Covid-19 global pandemic. How ironic because World Health Organization [WHO] Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus did not declare a global pandemic until March 11, 2020. All Woodward knew Jan. 28, 2020 was there were a few cases of Covid-19 in the U.S. with no deaths. On Jan. 30, 2020, Trump banned all U.S. and Chinese flights to-and-from the Peoples Republic of China. Woodward said nothing in “Rage” about Trump taking draconic steps to keep the deadly infection out of the U.S. When Tedros spoke Feb. 5, 2020 in Geneva, he told a press conference that no country had a right to impose travel restrictions to impact global business activity. Woodward mentioned nothing about how the White House took steps to contain the Covid-19 outbreak in the U.S.
No one in the press wants to admit that Woodward used his interviews with Trump to sabotage his presidential campaign. Trump naively thought that Woodward would give a favorable picture of his presidency while he juggled many domestic and global challenges confronting the country. Little did Trump know that Woodward and Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of Trump’s Covid-19 task forces, were busy night-and-day giving interviews to the Trump-hating press, blaming Trump for mismanaging the Covid-19 crisis. Trump’s $59 million case could still get tossed out of court, even in the conservative Pensacola District. Trump’s decision to give his enemy an interview was at his own risk, knowing Woodward was no fan of his presidency. Trump lost a defamation suit by Bloomberg opnion writer Timothy O’Brien whose 2005 book described Trump as a millionaire, not a billionaire.
Trump faces an uphill battle with his suit against Woodward and his publisher, Simon & Schuster for his 2022 audio-book, publishing his 2019 to 2020 interviews with the former president. If Trump wanted to protect his reputation, he should have avoided Woodward like the plague, knowing he would say nothing flattering. How hypocritical that Woodward would criticize Trump’s relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean President Kim Jong-un. Where’s Woodward’s criticism of 80-year-old President Joe Biden who has the U.S. at war with the Russian Federation, nearly at war with China and facing a nuclear-armed North Korea? Trump relations with foreign adversaries were night-and-day from Biden who has the world closer to WW III, possibly nuclear war. But how ironic that Woodward finds only criticism for Trump.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
