Trump's Attorney Writes to Jeff Zucker and CNN, Announcing His Intent to Sue

This feels like it might be using government process and media to push a political narrative.

In other words, I guess Trump has learned from Obama, Hillary, Comey, Lynch, Clapper, Brennan, and Schiff.

I don't expect this will go anywhere but who knows -- maybe we can use circular reporting to the DOJ to get a special prosecutor appointed!

That's how it's done, right?

In a letter to Mr. Zucker and other CNN executives, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer detailed evidence of Mr. Zucker's "vendetta" against the president and evidence of a CNN campaign to "take down President Trump" with biased reporting on the impeachment effort, as documented in an undercover video by Project Veritas.

"Never in the history of this country has a President been the subject of such a sustained barrage of unfair, unfounded, unethical and unlawful attacks by so-called 'mainstream' news, as the current situation," Trump lawyer Charles Harder said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

Mr. Harder said the Project Veritas video was "the tip of the iceberg of the evidence my clients have accumulated over the recent years."

He said the biased reporting violated the Lanham Act, a copyright protection law, suggesting that the news network does not live up to its claims of journalistic integrity.

Ah! Sounds like Yates citing THE LOGAN ACT as a valid reason to begin a criminal investigation of Michael Flynn.

The Lanham Act is about registering a trademark. But it also contains provisions about false advertising, and provides for relief -- a lawsuit -- in cases where someone is claimed to engage in false advertising.

That's why Trump's letter contains so many citations of CNN's false claims of being a "trusted" "news" network, while observing none of the rules of actual journalism (such as verifying stories before publishing and correcting false stories).

The Supreme Court in POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca Cola, explained why the Lanham Act utilizes competitors as its enforcement mechanism: "Competitors who manufacturer or distribute products have detailed knowledge regarding how consumers rely upon certain sales and marketing strategies. Their awareness of unfair competition practices may be far more immediate and accurate than that of agency rulemakers and regulators." Thus, the "Lanham Act draws upon this market expertise by empowering private parties to sue competitors to protect their interests on a case-by-case basis."

Here's the false advertising part of the Act:

Any person who, on or in connection with any goods or services, or any container for goods, uses in commerce any word, term, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof, or any false designation of origin, false or misleading description of fact, or false or misleading representation of fact, which--

is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of his or her goods, services, or commercial activities by another person, or

in commercial advertising or promotion, misrepresents the nature, characteristics, qualities, or geographic origin of his or her or another person's goods, services, or commercial activities,

shall be liable in a civil action by any person who believes that he or she is or is likely to be damaged by such act.

Huh. Well, this is certainly a novel reading of the Act, and for that reason one that I think the courts will reject, but, on its face... CNN is fake news, and claiming to be otherwise is false advertise, and does in fact result in damage to another person, both its gullible viewers and the targets of its fake news propaganda.

Below, a tweet containing the letter. If you click on the picture, it will expand it, and then you can use the arrow button on the side of the picture to advance through all four pages.

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:19 PM

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