{"id":42588,"date":"2019-08-28T15:21:52","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T22:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=42588"},"modified":"2019-09-15T08:25:57","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T15:25:57","slug":"big-baby-trump-threatens-to-sue-msnbc-odonnell-over-report-that-russians-co-signed-loans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=42588","title":{"rendered":"Big Baby Trump Threatens to Sue MSNBC, O’Donnell Over Report that Russians Co-Signed Loans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poor Donald Trump. He thought that all of his misdeeds and corruption would remain secret in perpetuity. Unfortunately for him, his methods of deception have been just as incompetent and ineffective as everything else he does. Consequently, each new day brings another revelation of some legal or ethical breach that he hoped would stay buried.<\/p>\n

\"Donald
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The latest bit of bad news for Trump comes in the form of a speculative report that aired on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell<\/em>. On Tuesday night the program revealed allegations from a confidential source who said that some of Trump’s loans from the shady Deutsche Bank were co-signed by Russian oligarchs connected to Vladimir Putin. This could be a bombshell story that would explain much of Trump’s affinity for – and coddling of – Russia generally, and Putin in particular.<\/p>\n

The public disclosure of this sort of financial arrangement would be devastating for Trump. Consequently, he is punching back with all his impotent might. Trump had his personal attorney, Charles Harder, dash off a letter with a stern warning<\/a><\/strong> to O’Donnell and the network that should make them think twice:<\/p>\n

“We write concerning the false and defamatory statements published by Lawrence O\u2019Donnell and NBC Universal […] The Program and Tweet make the false and defamatory statements that ‘Russian oligarchs’ cosigned loans provided to Mr. Trump by Deutsche Bank, and described these ‘co-signers’ as ‘Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.'” These statements are false and defamatory, and extremely damaging.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Demand is hereby made that Mr. O\u2019Donnell and NBCU immediately and prominently retract, correct and apologize for the aforementioned false and defamatory statements. [and that] Failure to do so will leave my clients with no alternative but to consider their legal options which could include immediate legal proceedings against Mr. O\u2019Donnell and NBCU.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is an entirely bogus threat that is highly unlikely to ever be carried out. The allegations that O’Donnell reported were presented as speculative from the outset. He presented it that way in a teaser at the beginning of the show where he said that “I want to stress that it is a single source that has not been confirmed by NBC News [and that] it’s going to require a lot more verification before that can be a confirmable fact.”<\/em> He repeated these disclaimers in the segment that aired later. He could not have been more clear, repeatedly prefacing his remarks by saying “If true…”<\/em> Therefore, he never presented it as fact, only the assertions of his source, as is evident in the video of the segment:<\/p>\n