Chris LaCivita Sues Daily Beast for Defamation

Chris LaCivita, senior adviser for President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, sued The Daily Beast Monday, alleging defamation for an article claiming that he personally profited from the campaign.

"Defendant's false statements created the false impression that Mr. LaCivita was charging exorbitant rates for his services and personally enriching himself at the expense of the campaign, thereby harming his reputation as an honest, reasonable, and ethical political operative," the defamation lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, reads.

"As a direct and proximate result of the publication of the defamatory statements, Mr. LaCivita has suffered special damages, including damage to his reputation and loss of business income," the suit claims. The complaint does not demand a specific dollar amount, but leaves the determination to the jury. The lawsuit claims The Daily Beast articles harmed LaCivita's ability to find new clients.

The allegation traces back to an October article written by freelance journalist Michael Isikoff and originally titled “Trump In Cash Crisis-As Campaign Chief’s $22m Pay Revealed.” The current version has altered the headline to reflect a lower figure: $19.2 million.

The lawsuit claims the records "clearly show that the $22 million figure is the gross spend (the overwhelming majority of which was for ad buys), not the money which Mr. LaCivita personally received."

The Daily Beast repeated the allegations in several follow-up articles and the outlet's chief content officer, Joanna Coles, discussed them on a podcast.

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On Nov. 5, LaCivita's lawyers demanded a correction and retraction, pointing to campaign finance reports that documented the expenditures, the New York Post reported. The Daily Beast corrected the article a few days later, changing the amount and clarifying that the funds went to LaCivita's consulting firm, rather than to the campaign adviser personally. The outlet also changed the headline and added an editor's note.

The Daily Beast deleted its podcast episode after LaCivita's lawyers demanded more retractions in January.

The outlet declined further demands from LaCivita's team, Axios reported.

“The Daily Beast stands by its reporting on Chris LaCivita," a representative said. "His lawsuit is meritless and a transparent attempt to intimidate the Beast and silence the independent press."

The Daily Beast "should have investigated and followed the money before publishing lies in order to get clicks and push their political agenda," LaCivita's lawyer, Mark Geragos, told The New York Times.

The lawsuit comes after Trump has filed multiple defamation cases against left-leaning legacy media outlets. ABC News paid $15 million to settle a lawsuit after anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely claimed that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping the writer E. Jean Carroll (a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, not raping her). Trump has sued CBS News for $20 billion, alleging that it deceptively edited an interview with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris before the election.

The Supreme Court dismissed Monday a Trump donor's defamation lawsuit against The Associated Press.

Trump and multiple Supreme Court justices have called for revisiting the key defamation precedent New York Times v. Sullivan.

Justice Clarence Thomas publicly dissented when the Supreme Court refused to hear a defamation case against the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2022, writing that the case of Coral Ridge Ministries justified reconsidering the precedent. Justice Neil Gorsuch has also called for the precedent to be overturned.