Why doesn't Scarborough file a lawsuit?

[shockey80]

He and his wife are doing nothing but complaining about being accused of murder by Trump? Fucking sue him. I don't get it.

[gordianot]

1. That would end it too quickly.

They also need to go after Twitter.

[Siwsan]

2. Maybe to spare the family of Ms Klausutis enduring any more grief

Because you know trump*'s reaction would be to go off the chain, and who knows what else he'd throw into the mix.

[wryter2000]

3. I think he has

Also the intern's family

[jberryhill]

4. "I don't get it."

Yeah, pretty much no one gets that you need more than "someone said something wrong about me and I feel bad" to proceed with a defamation suit.

Has Scarborough lost employment as a result of this? Has he been denied credit? Has he suffered any economic loss that you (or anyone else) can identify? Is he likely to?

Is he undergoing medical treatment for the trauma this has caused him?

Please quantify the damage for which you believe he should be compensated, and explain how it remedies any harm he has suffered.

The irony here is something, though, for people on DU to be suggesting he should sue for this.

Straight up - do you believe that Scarborough should sue DU and its members who posted the same stuff here?

[PJMcK]

8. All true

As usual, you've brought the logic and procedures of the Law to an emotional discussion thus shutting it down. And, as usual, you're right.

On the other hand, Scarborough has enough money to mess with Trump. Trump specializes in frivolous lawsuits that drag out until the other party bails. Scarborough could play the same game with Trump. If he can, in any way, make the suit go forward, would there be a discovery phase? That's always fun and interesting!

In reality, nothing will happen.

[jberryhill]

11. "Scarborough could play the same game with Trump"

Yeah, that's why Stormy Daniels still owes Trump $300,000. There are downsides to this sort of thing.

And, before anything gets to discovery, there's already this:

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/JacobusTrump.pdf

But, sure, in the face of two failures thus far to sue Trump for "defamation by tweet" (Daniels and the Jacobus decision linked above), let's have another one.

At the end of the day, Trump has rendered himself pretty much immune to these types of things, because it is widely known that he spews bullshit on Twitter, and thus there is no reasonably belief or expectation that his nonsense is taken seriously by anyone in the first place. That's pretty much what the ruling in Jacobus v. Trump held, and was upheld by the NY Appellate Division.

[PJMcK]

14. Trump's free pass

Jacobus is Trump's escape from responsibility.

On the other hand, didn't another court rule that Trump's Twitter feed constitutes official Presidential declarations? Not that it matters much!

My suggestion regarding Scarborough was more a fantasy than a real suggestion. In the end, Trump is fairly safe, at least until he's out of office.

[dsc]

23. actually that isn't what was held in that case

They stated that all of things said were opinion not facts. I tend to agree with their holding vs Trump but not in regards to Lewinkowski. He clearly made statements that are indeed provable facts. And in the case of Scarborough he has a clearer case in that regard. I think a lawsuit in his case should at least make it past summary judgement.

[jberryhill]

27. "Moreover,..."

The decision goes on to address 'even if it's not opinion', and includes a discussion of the "context" being that nobody takes Trump seriously:

[agingdem]

12. mika/joe

are not going to shut this down much less sue...they served up their buddy trump on a silver platter...it was all about ratings then and it's all about ratings now...

[shockey80]

15. The same old fucking story. The story of the American people the past forty years

Don't do anything BECAUSE. It won't work, I'm scared, I will just sit back and take it, do nothing, bullshit. Fucking sheep.

It doesn't matter if it doesn't work. When somebody accuses of murder you fight back. File a fucking lawsuit, get it to the courts, start a fucking legal crusade on national TV. Joe and is wife have money. Fucking fight.

[The Wizard]

21. Proving damages is easier said ........ (NT)

[marybourg]

5. When you're a "public figure", the bar to winning

a defamation suit is high. Although, in this case, I think he would have a chance. But it’s painful to air your dirty linen in public, and only he knows what might be uncovered in such a suit.

[marybourg]

9. They can sue, but, having placed themselves

in the public eye, other people are allowed to comment on them. To a limit. And I think tRump may have overstepped the limit. I much prefer our system to the British one.

[Mike 03]

20. They can. It is tough, though. The radio personality Art Bell won several lawsuits

against a talk show host, a radio station manager, a radio guest, and two other people who all accused him of molesting children. I would think accusing someone of murder is up there in terms of inflammatory charges.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. He's a public figure - defamation cases are very difficult

for public figures.

[greenjar_01]

10. Conservative Lawyers Group gonna be arriving soon to....oop...never mind

[MontanaMama]

13. I don't feel sorry for Joe and Mika.

They helped create this reality.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. I feel the same.

They let Trump come on their show whenever he wanted to back in 2016 and they ate all of his bullshit up with a spoon. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole drama was created just for ratings. Trump wins by owning the libs. Joe and Mika win by stirring up sympathy from liberals. It's just another grift, I'd say.

[MontanaMama]

18. 100% agree.

They’re all trash.

[sop]

16. Trump is only doing this to distract from his many failures, JoeScar suing him would only give the

story legs. In Trump's diseased mind he thinks the country won't blame him for 100,000 dead Americans, 40M unemployed and a devastated economy if he picks yet another public fight with one of his critics. Scarborough can do more good by just reporting honestly (this time) over the next five months.

[Tink41]

19. Several posts about this over the weekend

We used to abhor Joe here! What happened?? DU was THE place I learned about the dead intern. Several years ago DU mocked him here for this very thing. Honestly been suffering whiplash the last year or two. DU has become a strange place.

[jberryhill]

24. Yes, Joe "dead intern" Scarborough is a long-running feature of DU

There are those who say it was "fair play" for accusations against Gary Condit arising from the Chandra Levy murder.

That justification makes absolutely no sense at all.

Like, it's okay to say "Lindsay Graham is a cannibal" because someone said that Obama wasn't born in Hawaii.

[Tink41]

25. Thats great and all

But why are "we" suddenly defending this guy?? Nothing has changed except the "script" he's been given by his employers. It gets clicks, it rakes in advertising dollars. TPTB give no shits as to what is going on right now, as long as the money keeps coming in.

[jberryhill]

26. Some day you might grasp the difference

Between "defending this guy"

And "defending truth"

Truth doesn't care who "this guy" is. But, there are different rules when it is someone we don't like.

[Kingofalldems]

29. Oh no!

[Tink41]

30. HA!

Makes no sense. DU breathlessly claimed "Joe murdered an intern" several years ago. Probably a decade or more now. NOW DU is worried about truth?? That was the point I'm trying to make. Whiplash on this site.

[marble falls]

32. I missed it. When exactly did that happen? I don't care for old Joe, but I felt he was being ...

... given a pass on being a Republican.

[Tink41]

34. I'm not exactly sure.

I've been here forever, probably a year after this site started. looking for refuge. Joe and the Dead Intern was a fairly constant cry,
I'm not sure why. This place has changed, drastically. Not in a good way.

[Tink41]

33. So Dead Intern

Not true? Just a made up story? I am really confused

[manhattan123]

22. He's a public figure...

Both as a former congressman and now a TV host. It's hard for public figures, especially politicians, to win slander lawsuits, the theory being it would be too easy for them to shut down criticism by suing.

[KWR65]

28. Because of the Streisand effect.

If he lets this go then in a week everyone forgets about it. If he files a lawsuit then it stays in the news for years. Plus it would cost millions of dollars to sue Trump and the United States Government. You are talking about countless appeals to appeal courts and SCOTUS.

[rusty fender]

31. He has to be materially damaged by

the libel. If Scarborough loses his source of income because of Trumpass’s libel, he’d then have a case.