It’s time to push back against Donald Trump’s efforts to target, silence, and punish—via lawsuits, access restrictions, and exertions of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory authority—press entities that oppose and supposedly harm him or that fail to embrace his narratives.
Trump’s attacks on journalism proliferate precisely when he demonstrates what AEI’s Jack Landman Goldsmith recently called “indifference to legal constraints and desire to eliminate all personnel or policy friction between his impulse and executive action,” including by “asserting dominion over independent agencies” like the FCC via an executive order. Goldsmith adds that “the sheer number of executive orders and actions that either clearly violate current law or raise serious legal questions is stunning.” If Trump squelches his press critics––however biased some are––who will publicly call out his constitutionally questionable actions?
Trump’s war on the press began before January 20, 2025. It’s a technology-agnostic, flood-the-zone strategy affecting multiple varieties of communications media. He’s sued over-the-air broadcasters ABC (scoring a $15 million settlement in December after George Stephanopoulos inaccurately said Trump was found civilly liable of raping––it actually was sexual abusing––E. Jean Carroll) and CBS (over its editing and promotion of a pre-election 60 Minutes’ interview with Kamala Harris, as I’ve previously described). Last week, attorneys for CBS and Paramount Global (CBS’s owner) filed a motion to dismiss, calling the lawsuit “an affront to the First Amendment [that] is without basis in law or fact.”
Beyond suing terrestrial broadcasters, Trump filed a $475 million defamation complaint in 2022 against a prominent cable news outlet, CNN, over its use of the phrase “the Big Lie” in connection with his 2020 election challenges. A federal judge dismissed Trump’s claim in 2023, concluding the complaint “allege[d] no false statements of fact.”
Trump recently sued the owners of a print newspaper, The Des Moines Register, as well its primary pollster, Ann Selzer, who uses another technology––telephony––for her work. Trump won Iowa by 13 points, but he didn’t like a Selzer poll the Register published that predicted him losing to Harris by three points. Trump’s lawsuit doesn’t involve traditional media theories such as defamation or privacy invasion. It asserts novel and legally dubious ones tied to Selzer’s poll for consumer fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, and negligent misrepresentation. Selzer’s attorneys contend the “claims are barred by the First Amendment and the Court should dismiss them with prejudice. In the United States there is no such thing as a claim for ‘fraudulent news.’”
Last month, as I’ve described, Trump blocked the access of a wire service––the Associated Press (AP)––to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other venues because the AP uses the term “Gulf of Mexico.” The AP filed a lawsuit against multiple White House officials “to vindicate its freedom of editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution and to prevent the Executive Branch from coercing journalists to report the news using only government-approved language.”
Trump’s lawsuits are somewhat akin to SLAPPs––strategic lawsuits against public participation. SLAPPs are filed by plaintiffs not with the intent of winning in court and recovering damages, but to silence critics by forcing them spend time and money defending against cases that often lack substantive merit. The goal is simple: Make it so financially exorbitant and time consuming to criticize the plaintiff that the critic-defendants eventually agree to settle and shut up if the plaintiff drops the lawsuit.
Trump’s litigation frenzy arrives when the press is weak, both financially (underfunded) and in terms of public support (untrusted). Additionally, the First Amendment’s Press Clause provides scant cover for journalists. A recent report from Yale Law School notes that “the Supreme Court has yet to recognize unique protections for the press needed for journalists to best perform their role in a democratic society. This is particularly troubling . . . when journalism . . . faces an array of unique and increasingly dire challenges.” The fact that news organizations like ABC and CBS are owned by conglomerates (Disney and Paramount Global, respectively) with non-news interests exacerbates these problems.
Trump’s war against the press ultimately is one against a system of democratic self-governance that features multiple checks and balances on individuals and entities wielding government power. Trump seeks to eliminate, through the time, expense, and chilling power of lawsuits, plus via access restrictions, journalists who play watchdog roles on government abuses. Trump wants a lapdog press that parrots and promotes his views.
Goldsmith contends the Supreme Court now “is the main institution standing between Trump and lawlessness.” The press––a non-governmental institution––also has a crucial part to play: Exposing presidential lawlessness when it occurs, thereby providing citizens with facts that may influence how they vote in the 2026 midterm elections and beyond. Courts must protect the press to perform this essential function.
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