Trump Sued Author “To Make His Life Miserable”

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump said he hopes to “open up” libel laws, to make it easier to sue news media. Trump’s frustration with the current laws may be rooted in his five-year losing battle against journalist Timothy L. O’Brien, former business reporter at the New York Times and author of the 2005 book, “TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald.” In the book, O’Brien concludes that Trump is worth substantially less than what he publicly claimed. Trump then sued in 2006, seeking $5 billion in damages. In an interview this week, Trump was still irked by the author’s claims, telling the Washington Post that O’Brien “is a whack job, a total nut job … one of the sleaziest people I’ve ever done business with.” In 2009 a superior court judge in New Jersey ruled that Trump had no case and dismissed his suit. An appeals court confirmed that ruling two years later, saying the case lacked “clear and convincing” evidence that O’Brien acted with willful disregard for the truth. Trump says he brought the suit mostly to make a point: “I spent a couple of bucks on legal fees, and they spent a whole lot more. I did it to make his life miserable, which I’m happy about.”