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President Donald Trump’s latest crusade against the media has focused on CNN and The New York Times, but journalists say they’re unfazed despite legal threats from the commander-in-chief.
Trump, who has a decades-long history of litigation that long predates his time in politics, has launched major lawsuits in the past year against CBS News, ABC News, The Des Moines Register, and the Pulitzer Prize board, while threatening other news organizations and suggesting reporters will be pressured to reveal their sources on stories about the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“These days, threats from the president have become business as usual for journalists. It won’t stop us from doing our jobs,” New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker told Fox News Digital.
TRUMP GOES AFTER CNN, NY TIMES FOR ‘FAKE NEWS’ ABOUT STRIKES ON IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES
President Trump has often threatened journalists with legal action. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump repeatedly criticized CNN and The New York Times in recent days for reporting what he called “fake news” about the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, with reports from both outlets suggesting they did not effectively destroy the country’s nuclear programs. A personal attorney for the president called the Times’ reporting “false,” “defamatory” and “unpatriotic,” while threatening legal action. He also threatened to sue CNN over its reporting.
“It’s not affecting my day at all,” a CNN journalist told Fox News Digital.
While Trump told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo that he wants to see people prosecuted for the leak of a classified early U.S. intelligence assessment used by CNN and the Times, Baker believes covering the strike on Iran was critical.
“It’s hard to think of anything more central to our journalistic mission than to report on the effects of a war involving a nuclear program,” Baker added, directing Fox News Digital to a letter Times senior vice president David McCraw, who serves as the paper’s lead newsroom attorney, penned last week.
NEW YORK TIMES ATTORNEY TELLS TRUMP NO APOLOGY COMING FOR COVERAGE OF IRAN STRIKES
President Trump has blasted CNN over coverage of the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“It’s a pretty good summation of our view,” Baker said.
McCraw shot down the notion that any apology or retraction is on the horizon and said that Americans deserve to know whether the attack on Iran was a success.
“We rely on our intelligence services to provide the kind of impartial assessment that we all need in a democracy to judge our country’s foreign policy and the quality of our leaders’ decisions. It would be irresponsible for a news organization to suppress that information and deny the public the right to hear it,” McCraw wrote. “We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.”
Meanwhile, Trump scored a victory in his lawsuit against CBS News late Tuesday night, as Paramount Global settled to the tune of $16 million. That amount will cover legal fees, costs of the case, and contributions to his library or charitable causes, to be determined at Trump’s discretion. There is an expectation that there will be another allocation in the mid-eight figures set aside for advertisements, public service announcements, or other similar transmissions, in support of conservative causes by the network, Fox News Digital has learned.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley previously said a settlement would be “very damaging to CBS, to Paramount, to the reputation of those companies.” Other high-profile CBS journalists, such as Lesley Stahl, were vehemently against a settlement.
“The unanimous view at ‘60 Minutes’ is that there should be no settlement, and no money paid, because the lawsuit is complete bulls—,” one veteran “60 Minutes” producer told Fox News Digital last month.
However, Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder who recused herself from settlement discussions in February, made clear that she wanted to settle Trump’s lawsuit in hopes of clearing the pathway for Paramount’s multibillion-dollar planned merger with Skydance Media, which needs approval from the Trump administration’s FCC.
Trump also received $15 million from ABC last year to settle a defamation lawsuit brought when its top anchor, George Stephanopoulos, falsely asserted that he was found “liable for rape” in a civil case during a contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., in March.
In 2018, USA Today investigative reporter Nick Penzenstadler examined what he called Trump’s “I’ll sue you” effect.
“The threats can be effective,” Penzenstadler wrote at the time. “Even the possibility of a lawsuit by a rich, powerful opponent raises the specter of years of expensive and time-consuming litigation.”
President Trump received $15 million from ABC last year to settle a defamation lawsuit brought when its top anchor, George Stephanopoulos, falsely asserted that he was found “liable for rape.” (Getty Images)
A longtime media industry executive with a history of overseeing newsrooms feels “Trump has shown that there’s actually bark to his bite” over the past few years, and it would be wise for news organizations to attempt fairness when covering the administration.
“He will go after these media companies that have never been held accountable before for bias. He files the lawsuits in the south, where the New York media organizations are at a disadvantage,” the media executive told Fox News Digital.
“ABC and CBS were easy marks because their parent companies had more important business with Trump than coddling the egos of George Stephanopoulos and Scott Pelley. In the case of the Times and CNN, however, especially with CNN being spun off, these smaller news organizations may be willing to fight harder and longer,” they continued. “But they should gear up for a drawn-out, ugly battle in a southern courtroom with embarrassing discovery processes and unsympathetic judges and juries.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump also nodded along on Tuesday as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she was working with the Justice Department to see if CNN can be “prosecuted” for a recent segment about an app that tracks the location of ICE agents. CNN has said there is “nothing illegal” about reporting on the existence of an app.
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CNN has also stood by its reporting on the Iran strike.
“CNN stands by our thorough reporting on an early intelligence assessment of the recent strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which has since been confirmed by other news organizations. The White House has acknowledged the existence of the assessment, and their statement is included in our story,” a CNN spokesperson told Fox News Digital.