The Daily Beast has hit back at a defamation lawsuit filed by Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, telling a federal judge its articles were a fair and accurate account of the operative’s multi-million-dollar earnings.
Chis LaCivita, who helped spearhead Trump’s 2024 election victory, sued the Daily Beast earlier this year over a series of articles saying his firm received up to $22 million from the campaign and associated political action committees.
The Republican strategist had argued the reporting harmed his reputation by creating a “false impression that he was personally profiting excessively” and prioritizing personal gain over the campaign’s success.
But during a court hearing in Virginia on Wednesday, the Daily Beast urged Judge Henry Hudson to dismiss the case and strongly defending its reporting.
“The article is not defamatory,” the Daily Beast’s lawyer, Katherine Bolger, told the judge.
“The article says that Mr. LaCivita made a lot of money. This is the United States, your honor, and we are capitalists—there is nothing wrong with making money.”
The lawsuit is one of several legal actions Trump and his allies have filed against news outlets and journalists whose coverage they claim was misleading or inaccurate.
In July, for instance, Trump sued media mogul Rupert Murdoch after The Wall Street Journal published a story about a bawdy 50th birthday letter he made for child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The president also sued the New York Times and some of its most prominent reporters in September over articles and a book that made the case that he built his fortune and reputation in part through fraud.
But while a number of media outlets have chosen to settle their defamation lawsuits with Trump and those in his orbit, the Daily Beast has continued to defend its work in court.
LaCivita’s claim centers on an article that was first published on October 15, 2024, with the initial headline: “Trump In Cash Crisis-As Campaign Chief’s $22m Pay Revealed.”
The article stated that LaCivita had negotiated a series of contracts and was paid millions of dollars over two years from the campaign.
But Bolger argued that the article made clear that the money had been approved. What’s more, she said, LaCivita’s response was quoted in full, and he did not deny that the money was paid.
“Instead, Mr. LaCivita gives a spirited attack of the people he thinks provided it to the Daily Beast,” she said (his lawsuit references Corey Lewandowski, who is now a central figure in Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security).
“There is not a pre-publication denial of the payments—none.”
LaCivita, who appeared in court Wednesday and sat behind his lawyers in a blue suit, declined to comment to the Daily Beast.
Bolger also noted that within days of LaCivita complaining that public records from the Federal Election Commission conflicted with statements in the article, the Daily Beast revised the original $22 million payment to $19.2 million.
The updated version of the article also clarified that the funds went to LaCivita’s consulting firm rather than to him personally.
However, LaCivita’s attorney, Mark Geragos—whose past clients include Michael Jackson, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Chris Brown—rejected Bolger’s arguments.
“I give her credit for the way she spins this, but the spin is belied by the headlines,” he said, describing them as “clickbait.”
Geragos also claimed the articles were designed to “mislead the public as an October or November surprise” and were an attempt “to get the boss to fire (LaCivita) in the weeks leading up to the election”—an unfounded claim that Bolger strongly rejected.
Judge Hudson, a district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, has yet to rule on the Daily Beast’s motion to dismiss.
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