Clinton campaign sends legal warning on ads claiming she's 'under investigation'

[greyl]

Source: CNN

(CNN)Hillary Clinton's campaign sent cease-and-desist letters to broadcasters advising that they shouldn't air ads from pro-Donald Trump PACs that include the claim that Clinton is "under investigation by the FBI."
The letters were dated Sunday, the same day the FBI announced that it was sticking by its conclusion that no charges were recommended against Clinton following completion of a review of recently discovered emails belonging to Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

"These ads falsely claim Secretary Clinton is under investigation by the FBI," said the letter from Marc Elias, general counsel for the Clinton campaign. A copy of the letter was read to CNN by a recipient.
The letter lists some pro-Trump PACs, including Rebuilding America Now and Future 45, and the titles of ads they are funding.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/07/politics/hillary-clinton-campaign-ads-legal-warning-election-2016/

[tonyt53]

1. Good!

[yuiyoshida]

22. Good!

[Foggyhill]

2. This kind of claim can be litigated unlike the

Some people ple say kind of mud slinging


Also, the lawsuit and message invalidating those ads will make the rounds

[displacedtexan]

3. I'm glad they did this.

The only thing these deplorables understand is legal action and the fear of their own liability in such situations. Calling Sec. Clinton "corrupt" is an opinion. Claiming she's under investigation by the FBI is a lie. There's a legal difference.

[Maven]

4. Good. I think they'd have little trouble proving actual malice here. nt

[Tarc]

7. I saw my first "Future 45"-funded as last week, those people are horrid

One has a woman in pantsuit and shades playing Hillary, smashing laptops and laughing/smirking. The other is animated, with an on-the-scene reporter, female, observing the trucks of "baggage" moving into the White House, with a leering Bill oogling the reporter at the end.

Shameless, demagogic nonsense.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

31. That is what I am talking about above ^^^

...eom.

[MattP]

8. Future 45 is funded by Tom Ricketts the Cubs owner

[MontanaMama]

10. As a life long Cubs fan

this is a huge disappointment to me. Why is there ALWAYS a turd in the punch bowl? It was my 11 year old son who pointed out that Tim Ricketts looks an awful lot like Ted Cruz. Blech....

[VWolf]

45. Well, the Red Sox had Curt Schilling as their turd n/t

[Amimnoch]

9. Great, but really, 3,500 lawsuits and counting, do you think this will stop anything?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/01/donald-trump-lawsuits-legal-battles/84995854/

That deplorable orange orangutan is perfectly adept in a court room. He's been the plantiff in 1,900 cases, been the defendent in 1,450, and 150 in bankruptcy, third party, or other.

I'm pretty sure the threat of legal action will ring hallow with him. Hell, that ass has been able to say and do just about damn well anything he wanted this season without hardly ever being held to task on it.

[LisaM]

11. Right, but the letter seems to be going to the actual stations

They have to defend what they put on the air, and there are actual laws against defamation. I doubt if Trump is going to assist anyone else with legal bills. He doesn't even seem to pay his own.

[Amimnoch]

14. ahh, I'd missed that. good point.

Hope it works in taking that lying POS talking point off the air.

[Moonwalk]

18. It's not Trump that's being told to stop, it's the stations running the ads...

...THEY may not want to go to court over this. So Trump can shout and scream all he likes, all they have to say is "Sorry, can't run this. The law is on her side."

[onenote]

12. this is good, but it only applies to non-candidate funded ads

Stations can reject non-candidate funded ads. But ads funded by the candidate (the one with the "I'm Donald Trump and I approved this ad" message -- the station cannot reject those ads based on their content. So if Trump wants to continue to place ads stating Hillary is being investigated or that the FBI found her emails on pervert Weiner's laptop, the stations must run them.

[Coyotl]

13. False Ads: There Oughta Be A Law! – Or Maybe Not

False Ads: There Oughta Be A Law! – Or Maybe Not

Old article but relevant. They can reject all candidate's ads, but they cannot single out one candidate.

[onenote]

25. Actually, commercial tv stations may not reject all federal candidate ad buys

The Communications Act contains a provision imposing on broadcast licensees a requirement that they provide "reasonable access" to candidates in general elections for federal office (President, Senate, House). A station may not simply refuse to sell time to all federal candidates -- at least some time (a "reasonable" amount) has to be provided for purchase (at the station's "lowest unit rate" for the particular time period/class of ad time).

[marybourg]

32. Does that law requiring

them to run candidate ads then shield them from libel laws?

[onenote]

37. Yes. A station can't be sued for libel for running an ad it is required to run

Moreover, given the high bar for establishing libel where the plaintiff is a public official/public figure, it's unlikely such a suit would succeed against a station even if it wasn't required to run the ad.

[marybourg]

39. Thanx. Required ad law

new to me.

[Hekate]

15. Good

[retrowire]

16. She could counteract with falsities of her own like

"Trump is a sentient football with a bad case of leakage"

But she's above that.

[classykaren]

20. This is just like swift boat remember?

[Orrex]

21. Wow. I really misread your subject line.

I parsed it as

Clinton campaign sends legal warning on ads
claiming she's 'under investigation'

As in, they're her ads, and she's claiming that she's being investigated.


Whew!

[RKP5637]

26. Democrats are often far too nice. They need to take the gloves off and knock these asses

around. Being pleasant is seen as a weakness. Compromise is seen as a weakness to be exploited.

[Wellstone ruled]

27. Well Bloomberg sure did not get the memo.

One of those mentioned Ads hit at 2pm. Just caught one on KNTV/ABC Las Vegas at 3pm. Times are Pacfic time.

[stubtoe]

29. Effing About Time! Yeah!

[BainsBane]

38. I've been wondering if she might not have a legal case against Trump

for the blatant lies he's told about her.

[onenote]

42. Probably not.

It's almost unheard of for one candidate to sue another candidate for statements made during a campaign. The First Amendment sets a very high bar for such lawsuit. Winners figure that winning is the best revenge. Losers look like sore losers for suing the winner. So even if it "could" happen, it hardly ever does and pigs will fly before it happens in a presidential race.

[SteelSmasher]

41. Here we are

We are now at the point where someone needs to say "you are such liar it legally needs to stop, and even the law says so". Maybe I'm not phrasing that right. (and it kind of started with stuff like pictures of President Obama with a bone nose piercing)

[Cha]

43. Excellent! TY greyl

[mnhtnbb]

44. Saw one of these ads last night while watching The Voice here in NC.

[DallasNE]

47. Didn't do an6 /ood

Saw 9n3 this AM