Lawsuit against Woodward is dismissed

[Qutzupalotl]

Reuters: DONALD TRUMP'S LAWSUIT AGAINST JOURNALIST BOB WOODWARD OVER AUDIOBOOK IS DISMISSED

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) 2025-07-18T20:55:14.472Z

Reuters: DONALD TRUMP'S LAWSUIT AGAINST JOURNALIST BOB WOODWARD OVER AUDIOBOOK IS DISMISSED

(no more at link)

[SoFlaBro]

1. MAGA shitbags only care about protecting child rapists and endorsing the rape of children.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Tried to sue for publishing full interviews. You know, like they got millions from CBS for *not* doing

NEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters) - Donald Trump cannot pursue his nearly $50 million lawsuit against the journalist Bob Woodward for publishing tapes from interviews for his 2020 best-seller "Rage" as an audiobook, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan is a victory for Woodward, his publisher Simon & Schuster and its former owner Paramount Global (PARA.O)

They had argued that federal law barred the U.S. president from copyrighting interviews conducted as part of his official duties, and that no president before him ever demanded royalties for publishing presidential interviews.
...
Trump sued in January 2023, saying he told Woodward repeatedly that the interviews were meant solely for the book. Woodward said he never agreed to that restriction.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/donald-trumps-lawsuit-against-bob-woodward-over-audiobook-is-dismissed-2025-07-18/

So Trump wanted his interviews published only in one form - written, and so probably edited. But Trump wanted the audio form, giving a better idea of how he spoke during the interview, covered up. While he extorted $16 million from CBS for *not* using the entire recording of an interview with Harris.

[H2O Man]

3. Recommended.

[irisblue]

4. Ok, as if I were 5 again. Please expain this.

[emulatorloo]

5. See Muriel's post

[TommyT139]

17. Here's my summary.

Trump admired Bob Woodward (who broke the Watergate story with Carl Bernstein; see All the President's Men). Bob W wrote a series of books during Trump's first term, based on interviews with Trump and Trump staffers (at Trump's encouragement).

For the last of that series, Rage, Bob W had about 8+ hours (20 interview sessions) with Trump alone. You might recall a controversy when the book came out after Trump's term: Trump knew covid was lethal, but admitted lying about it to America. Woodward was criticized for not sharing that info, which he learned in Spring 2020.

Anyway, Rage was published, as a book and as an audiobook. A bit later, the interviews were published as The Trump Tapes,, as a book (which included the Kim Jung Il "love letters," and others)...and as an audiobook consisting of the interview recordings themselves, along with Bob W's commentary & context. Trump was credited as the "reader" on the audio...but [only] Bob W was the listed author.

Trump claims that the interviews were only to be used for Rage, not released as a whole. Bob W said 1) no such agreement was made; 2) as interviews were done on presidential time, they didn't belong to Trump; 3) being a public figure, fair use would apply. (I'm not a lawyer, but that's my understanding. Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.)

And of course, Bob Woodward was correct.

[Bev54]

6. TACO?

[Hekate]

9. Trump. Always. Chickens. Out. An economist dubbed him that after he repeatedly yo-yoed about tariffs

Get in his face and refuse to play along — this seems to work pretty well. The economist coined TACO within the last month,

[Bev54]

14. I know what it means. I was wondering if it applied here as well.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. Ws it dismissed by a court, or dropped by the plaintive?

If a judge did it he'll steal some cash from treasury and appeal.

[TomSlick]

13. Dismissed.

[BaronChocula]

8. What a Floser

My new portmanteau.

[Qutzupalotl]

11. Link with more info here:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.603675/gov.uscourts.nysd.603675.83.0_1.pdf

[Mr.Bee]

12. 'ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN'

Yes, I saw 'ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN' last night and it was amazing
how these two men; Woodward and Bernstein, were able to expose
the trail leading higher and higher into the White House,
without computers, without cellphones, or even pocket recorders!
A Must See! Refresh Your Memories!
Rated 7.9 out of 10 on IMDB!

[UTUSN]

15. K&R

[UTUSN]

16. K&R