Report: Bar Association declined to publish report calling Trump ‘libel bully’

A group of media lawyers from the American Bar Association commissioned a report on Donald Trump’s history of filing lawsuits, determining that the GOP presidential nominee is a “libel bully,” according to the New York Times.

{mosads}But that report was never published because the association said it feared it would be sued by Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. The report discovered that the suits he filed never won in court.

“It is more than a little ironic that a publication dedicated to the exploration of First Amendment issues is subjected to censorship when it seeks to publish an article about threats to free speech,” said David J. Bodney, a former chairman of the media-law committee. Other former chairmen of the committee were also said they were dismayed by the association’s decision not to publish. 

Susan Seager, a former journalist and First Amendment lawyer, compiled the study and researched seven lawsuits surrounding free speech that Trump or his companies filed. She said in an interview with the Times that the report is “based on court records.”

The report found Trump lost four suits, withdrew two and received a default judgment on one.

“Donald J. Trump is a libel bully,” the report said. “Like most bullies, he’s also a loser, to borrow from Trump’s vocabulary.”

According to the Times, the association wanted to ax the conclusion and Seager pointed out that the group’s decision highlights the effectiveness of the real estate mogul’s threats.

“The A.B.A. took out every word that was slightly critical of Donald Trump,” she said. “It proved my point.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened to file lawsuits throughout the presidential campaign, most recently in the instances of accusations that he sexually assaulted dozens of women.