President Trump's reelection campaign announced on Tuesday they have filed a lawsuit against the Washington Post for libel with regards to two stories they published alleging Russian connections with the campaign.
The suit was filed against the paper on Monday and wants "compensatory damages in the millions of dollars, according to proof; ii. Presumed damages according to proof; iii. Punitive damages according to proof; iv. Costs of suit; and v. Such other and further relief as the Court may deem proper."
The two articles the campaign are suing over includes an article from July 2019 by Paul Waldman, "which contains the defamatory statement 'who knows what sort of aid Russia and North Korea will give to the Trump campaign, now that he has invited them to offer their assistance?'"
"The statement in the June 20 Article is false and defamatory. There has never been any statement by anyone associated with the Campaign or the administration 'inviting' Russia or North Korea to assist the Campaign in 2019 or beyond. There also has never been any reporting that the Campaign has ever had any contact with North Korea relating to any United States election," the campaign says in the lawsuit.
The second article the campaign says has defamatory statements is authored by Greg Sargent and was published in June 2019, which claimed "that Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that the Campaign 'tried to conspire with' a 'sweeping and systematic' attack by Russia against the 2016 United States presidential election."
"In fact, Special Counsel Mueller’s Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election released on or about April 18, 2019 (the 'Mueller Report'), nearly two months before the June 13 Article, came to the opposite conclusion of the June 13 Article, namely, the Mueller Report concluded there was no conspiracy between the Campaign and the Russian government, and no United States person intentionally coordinated with Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election," the campaign states.