Trump's campaign team sues New York Times for libel

WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump's re-election campaign team said on Wednesday it had filed a libel suit against The New York Times, accusing the newspaper of intentionally publishing a false opinion article related to Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

In an escalation of the Republican President's long-running battle with the news media, campaign officials said the aim was to "hold the news organisation accountable for intentionally publishing false statements against President Trump's campaign".

The lawsuit relates to a March 27 opinion article last year by Mr Max Frankel, who was the Times' executive editor from 1986 to 1994.

Asked about the lawsuit, Mr Trump said he would let it "work its way through the courts" and that "there'll be more coming".

The Times said it would fight the case.

"The Trump campaign has turned to the courts to try to punish an opinion writer for having an opinion they find unacceptable," Ms Eileen Murphy, a spokesman for The Times, said. "Fortunately, the law protects the right of Americans to express their judgments and conclusions, especially about events of public importance."

The article was headlined "The real Trump-Russia quid pro quo", with a subhead adding "The campaign and the Kremlin had an overarching deal: help beat Hillary Clinton for a new pro-Russian foreign policy".

Quid pro quo is a Latin term meaning a favour in exchange for a favour.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller documented Moscow's campaign of hacking and social media propaganda to boost Mr Trump's 2016 candidacy and harm his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He found insufficient evidence to show a criminal conspiracy between Mr Trump's team and Russia, but did not exonerate Mr Trump of obstruction of justice related to the investigation.

In the opinion piece, Mr Frankel stated: "There was no need for detailed electoral collusion between the Trump campaign and Vladimir Putin's oligarchy because they had an overarching deal: the quid of help in the campaign against Hillary Clinton for the quo of a new pro-Russian foreign policy... The Trumpites knew about the quid and held out the prospect of the quo."

"The statements were and are 100 per cent false and defamatory," said Ms Jenna Ellis, senior legal adviser to the Donald J. Trump for President campaign team.

REUTERS