As we told you last night, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell retracted his report on Russians allegedly co-signing loans for Donald Trump:
WATCH: Lawrence O'Donnell retracts his reporting about Trump loans. pic.twitter.com/JxNsIPhBNg
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 29, 2019
Too late. Eric Trump tweeted at Lawrence that he and MSNBC better lawyer up:
This was a reckless attempt to slander our family and smear a great company. Apologies are not enough when the true intent was solely to damage and cause harm. As a company, we will be taking legal action. This unethical behavior has to stop. @Lawrence @MSNBC https://t.co/i4X6CcdkCm
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) August 29, 2019
And believe it or not, that tweet is still up:
WHY IS THIS TWEET STILL UP??!?? https://t.co/OX3oQBqSTk
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) August 29, 2019
As for the merits of a lawsuit by the Trump Organization, here’s former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti:
Trump's lawyer asserts that @Lawrence O'Donnell's statement that "Russian oligarchs" co-signed Trump's Deutsche Bank loans is false and that some publicly available bank documents prove that Trump is the sole guarantor.
This could be a viable defamation claim by Trump. https://t.co/pK7yMeHdzB
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 28, 2019
Ordinarily these suits backfire because the person bringing the suit puts the truth of the underlying statement at issue, opening up discovery on the underlying issue, which often they do not want in the public eye.
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 28, 2019
However, since Trump merely claims that he was the only guarantor and that narrow issue can be proven via bank documents, this could be very straightforward.
That doesn't mean that O'Donnell "recklessly disregarded the truth," which is what the law requires.
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 28, 2019
We’ll also point out to MSNBC suits that Dan Rather “lost his job over less”:
Dan Rather lost his job over less. But cool guys, keep going after chicken restaurants and Facebook users. https://t.co/ElcAKvqTO7
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2019
Even the media-cop dynamic duo of Olivier Darcy and Brian Stelter are wondering if MSNBC will take action against Lawrence. From the Reliable Sources newsletter:
MSNBC execs were unaware
An MSNBC source told me that network execs were not informed about O’Donnell’s reporting before he went to air with it. The source said that “had they known” the reporting “would have not made it to broadcast.” Yikes…
Open Q’s
>> What was O’Donnell thinking? Why did he share the info on air, given how thinly sourced it was and given that NBC had not been able to confirm it? I asked the network on Wednesday, but a spokesperson declined to comment…
> Will O’Donnell face any disciplinary action? He conceded on Wednesday he did not follow network protocol and submit the story through NBC’s “rigorous verification and standards process.” I asked about whether he had faced disciplinary measures, but the spokesperson also declined to comment on that…
Over to you, MSNBC.
***
Related:
SHOCKER: Lawrence O’Donnell retracts Trump loan story on air (but STILL won’t say it’s inaccurate) https://t.co/iLT0kyEZeY
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 29, 2019
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