A legal analyst said ABC News's settlement of the lawsuit with Donald Trump for $15 million has emboldened him to launch a war against anyone he finds objectionable.
In a thread on Blue Sky, P. Andrew Torrez mentioned the lawsuit against reporter Bob Woodward and his publisher Simon and Schuster for revealing the recordings Woodward made during his interviews for his most recent book.
In a letter to the judge Tuesday, Trump's lawyer, Robert Garson, claimed that since ABC News settled its case with Trump, Simon and Schuster should do the same. The reasoning is that both lawsuits employ the same law firm.
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As Torrez explained, the cases are completely different. The ABC News lawsuit was about defamation. In the Simon and Schuster case, Trump claims he owns the recordings Woodward sold.
Torrez also co-hosts the "Law and Chaos" podcast and spent Monday's episode walking through the lawsuit and the settlement.
In a November letter to the judge, Trump's lawyers wrote, "The court is aware that President Trump is soon due to be inaugurated as the 47th President of these United States of America. The issue in this case, namely the unlicensed for-profit use of President Trump's voice that was recorded in an unofficial interview, is both timely and ripe, for fear of further unaccounted for profit being made from the President's voice. In addition, we trust that the Court can accommodate a discovery process that will cause minimal interference with the President's impending obligations."
It didn't work, however, and the case was put on hold while the judge considered the motion to dismiss from the publishing house. That's when the Trump lawyers filed the Dec. 17 letter urging them to cave in, too.
Torrez pointed out the comment in the letter claiming ABC "recognized the error of their ways." Again, he stressed that it is "an entirely unrelated case!"
"It's chilling to see Trump's lawyer say the quiet part out loud," Torrez continued.
Trump's lawyer wrote: "There has been a *renewed accountability* among those who violated [Trump's] rights over the last four years."
Torrez said that his translation of this sentence is: "We're going to lawfare the s--- out of anyone Trump has ever crossed. You ain't seen nothin' yet."
Less than 10 minutes after he posted his analysis, Torrez spotted another threat letter from Trump ally Mike Davis, president and founder of the Article III Project, which is known to run ads in defense of Trump.
According to Davis, he wants the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to investigate "serious judicial misconduct" by U.S. Circuit Judge James A. Wynn. That misconduct was that he held a retirement party and planned to retire upon confirmation of his replacement. That replacement withdrew his name, and as such, Wynn withdrew his retirement.
