The Daily Beast has asked a court to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager because it is “a transparent attempt to punish The Daily Beast for accurate reporting.”
A number of media outlets have chosen to settle defamation lawsuits with Trump, but the Daily Beast filed the motion to dismiss at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday.
Chis LaCivita’s lawsuit, filed in March, centered on a series of articles published in October and November 2024, which claimed that he and his company, Advancing Strategies, received millions of dollars for his work as co-manager of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
His allegations arise from the Daily Beast reporting that LaCivita’s company received $22 million over two years leading up to the election, a figure that was reduced in later reporting to $19.2 million.
But LaCivita 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.
However, in a motion filed in court on Monday, the Daily Beast said the lawsuit was “a transparent attempt to punish The Daily Beast for accurate reporting about payments Chris LaCivita and his firm, Advancing Strategies, received for their work on President Donald Trump’s 2024 electoral campaign.”
“The publications at issue here are neither sensationalized nor falsified. Instead, they focus on an issue important to every American—where money goes in a presidential campaign—by reporting on information made public by the federal government,” says the 41-page motion to dismiss.
“Plaintiffs may wish that The Daily Beast told the story of that information differently, but disagreement is not defamation. This Court should, therefore, dismiss the Complaint with prejudice.”
The lawsuit was filed by LaCivita and his company in a federal court in Virginia, where he is a resident.
It is one of many times Trump and those in his orbit have used litigation as a tool to challenge journalistic reporting they view as hostile or inaccurate.
LaCivita, who worked alongside Susie Wiles as co-campaign manager for the president’s election-winning campaign last year, is claiming two counts of defamation and one of conspiracy to injure another in trade, business, or profession. He is also seeking a jury trial and demanding compensatory and punitive damages.
The lawsuit details several articles published in the weeks before the Nov. 5, 2024, presidential election and an interview included in an episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, co-hosted by the Daily Beast’s chief content officer, Joanna Coles, and Canadian-American comedian Samantha Bee.
In his filing, LaCivita had claimed the stories were based on “unreliable information” provided by Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and others “in a blatant act of revenge against Mr. LaCivita and the Republican National Committee.”
But the Daily Beast argued on Monday that its reporting was fact-based, supported by publicly available Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance disclosures and campaign sources.
The story also contained not only LaCivita’s “full and colorful response” but also Trump campaign statements that some of the payments passed through LaCivita’s firm to other vendors, the motion says.
A spokesman for the Daily Beast declined to comment.
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