Trump campaign manager sues Daily Beast over salary reports 

The Daily Beast defended its reporting, dismissing the lawsuit as “meritless and a transparent attempt to intimidate the Beast and silence the independent press”, reported by Associated Press (AP).

Celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos is representing LaCivita in the case, which was first reported by Axios. The lawsuit is part of a broader pattern of legal action taken by Trump and his allies against the media.

Trump has sued CBS News for $20 billion over the editing of a 60 minutes interview with his 2024 election opponent Vice President Kamala Harris. He has also sued the Des Moines Register over an incorrect Iowa election poll. Meanwhile, ABC News recently settled a lawsuit with Trump after wrongly reporting that he had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

LaCivita argues that most of the payments made by Trump’s campaign to his firm, Advancing Strategies LLC, were for purchasing media advertisements. He claims the Daily Beast reports damaged his and his company’s reputation, making it harder to attract new clients.

In a letter to Geragos last month, the Daily Beast stated it would seek to question Trump and his senior aides as part of the legal process. The publication’s lawyer, Neil Rosenhouse, dismissed the claim that LaCivita’s business had suffered.

“The Beast’s reporting that the LLC earned millions of dollars by successfully managing President Trump’s campaign is not defamatory. It is the opposite,” Rosenhouse wrote.