Donald Trump Scooped the New York Times 13 Years Ago

The New York Times published illegally leaked tax information to prove that which was never disputed: that Donald Trump lost a lot of money in the eighties.

It was so undisputed that Donald Trump talked about it on The Apprentice.

There might be a little legal implication to this. I doubt it, but here's my thought:

Generally, if you publish someone's illegally-leaked tax documents, you can be sued for invasion of privacy.

Now, of course the New York Times would raise the defense of the First Amendment -- but the First Amendment defense swings on whether or not the newsworthiness of the illegally-leaked tax information exceeds the interest in protecting people from invasion of privacy.

As the newsworthiness of the Times' "scoop" diminishes to zero, all that one is left with is a gratuitous conspiracy to receive stolen personal information and intentionally invade privacy, with very little on the public-right-to-know side of the balance.

I don't think Trump would pursue that and even if he did, I still think Hawaiian judges would decide that, For Trump and Only Trump, there are no rules, there are no protections, and it's Thunderdome.

Still, maybe it's worth discussing.

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:40 PM

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