Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward for allegedly violating his copyright by publishing audio from their interviews without his permission.
The former president has a track record of bringing cases that are ultimately dismissed. Trump’s case, according to Woodward and Simon & Schuster, is without merit.
For “Rage,” Woodward’s second book on the former president, which will be released in bookstores in September 2020, the author conducted multiple interviews with Trump.
Later, Woodward published “The Trump Tapes,” an audiobook with eight hours of uncut Trump interviews mixed with the author’s commentary.
The 20 interviews with Trump that Woodward conducted from 2016 through 2020, including those for “Rage,” are included in that book, which was released on October 25, 2022.
However, Trump asserts in the lawsuit he filed on Monday in the Northern District of Florida that he did not authorize Woodward to make the interviews’ audio public.
“President Trump told Woodward numerous times that the Interviews were to be used by Woodward – and Woodward only – for the sole purpose of accurately quoting President Trump for the ‘written word,’ i.e., ‘Rage,’ and not for any other purpose, including providing, marketing, or selling the Interviews to the public, press, or the media, in any way, shape, or form,” the lawsuit states.
Trump is requesting close to $50 million in damages and has also sued Simon & Schuster and Paramount, the publisher’s parent firm.
The lawsuit claims the audio was “protected material, subject to various limitations on use and distribution.”
Trump and his lawyers were found responsible for nearly $1 million in fines earlier this month, according to a decision made by a federal judge in response to a lawsuit Trump filed against Hillary Clinton and several other people, alleging they colluded against him during the 2016 presidential campaign.
As he listed a number of previous unsuccessful cases Trump has filed recently, US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida said in that case that Trump has shown a “pattern of misusing the courts to serve political goals.”
“Frivolous lawsuits should not be used as a vehicle for fundraising or fodder for rallies or social media,” Middlebrooks wrote. “Mr. Trump is using the courts as a stage set for political theater and grievance. This behavior interferes with the ability of the judiciary to perform its constitutional duty.”
Trump has also taken legal action against other media outlets, including CNN, over stories he deemed to be unflattering or defamatory.
Because “President Trump’s voice is one of the most recognizable sounds in the world,” according to Trump’s lawsuit against Woodward, the author “decided to exploit, usurp, and capitalize upon President Trump’s voice by releasing the interview sound recordings of their interviews.”
“Former President Trump’s lawsuit is without merit and we will aggressively defend against it,” Woodward and Simon & Schuster said in a joint statement on Tuesday. “All these interviews were on the record and recorded with President Trump’s knowledge and agreement.”
The audiobook is in the public’s interest, according to Woodward and the publisher, because it provides as a historical record of Trump’s own words.
“We are confident that the facts and the law are in our favor,” they said.
