Why Donald Trump Lawsuit Against Biopic Director Would Fail: Law Experts
Former President Donald Trump would have little or no chance of winning a defamation lawsuit against the makers of a new biopic, legal experts have said.
The film, The Apprentice, depicts a scheming young Donald Trump climbing up the property ladder, then dropping his wife, Ivana, when she is no longer of use to him.
It also depicts him as a domestic abuser and that he abandoned his property mentor, also when he was no longer of use.
The film received an eight-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
In one scene, The Apprentice depicts Donald Trump raping Ivana Trump during an argument. In her 1990 divorce deposition, his ex-wife alleged to have been sexually assaulted by Trump. She disavowed the allegation in 2015, when Donald Trump was running for president.
Trump and his team plan on filing a lawsuit, Steven Cheung, Trump's campaign communications director, told Newsweek.
"We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers," he said. "This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate."
David Ring, a Los Angeles-based civil trial lawyer, told Newsweek that a Trump lawsuit would have little chance of success.
"Trump is the ultimate public figure and would have to show blatant outrageous falsehoods in the story and that the creators intended to lie about Trump and knew they were lying about Trump's background."
"The First Amendment grants a lot of leeway for people to write about or make movies about public figures like Trump. They are allowed to use artistic license," he said.
Donald Trump speaks to the media during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024 in New York City. Trump has threatened to sue the makers of a new biopic, The Apprentice. Curtis Means/Getty Images
"They cannot, however, just make things up. "The Apprentice biopic sounds like it is based on more than sufficient facts such that it will be lawsuit-proof. Trump can certainly threaten a lawsuit, and he can even file a lawsuit, but it will be a loser at the end of the day."
New York University constitutional law professor Peter Shane told Newsweek that the 1964 case of New York Times v. Sullivan established a high standard of proof for defamation of public figures.
"Unless and until the Supreme Court overrules New York Times v. Sullivan, a public figure can recover in libel only if the speech in question is published with knowledge of its falsity or reckless disregard of the truth."
In Sullivan, the Supreme Court overturned a successful defamation case taken by a public official who claimed his reputation was damaged by an advertisement in The New York Times.
Shane contrasted Trump's case with those of right-wing commentators Mike Lindell, Alex Jones and Fox News, all of which were hit with enormous libel awards for comments made about members of the public.
Trump was also successfully sued for tens of millions of dollars in two defamation lawsuits taken by E. Jean Carroll, a columnist who said that Trump had sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s.
"The targets of the lies told by Trump, Lindell, Jones, and Fox News were not public figures. A former president of the U.S. undoubtedly is," Shane said.
Bryan M. Sullivan, founding partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae in Los Angeles, told Newsweek that, while conservatives have been hit with large defamation lawsuits, Trump's success in a defamation action does not hinge on his political leanings.
"The film, from what I've read, is based on material from the public record and allegations that have been publicly made and while labeled as a "biopic," as with any similar films, it is known to be a work of fiction based on real-life events," he said.
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