Trump camp sues Post over Russia stories

The Trump reelection campaign is widening its response to what it says are “falsely” reported stories about the Russia collusion investigation, filing suit Tuesday against The Washington Post. 

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the Donald J. Trump for President Campaign, which “seeks to hold the news organization accountable for intentionally publishing false statements" against Trump's 2016 campaign.

 The suit comes six days after the campaign filed a similar suit over an opinion story in The New York Times.  

The suit against The Post focuses on statements in two stories: that 2016 Trump campaign “tried to conspire with” a “sweeping and systematic” attack by Russia in that presidential election cycle, and “who knows what sort of aid Russia and North Korea will give to the Trump campaign, now that he has invited them to offer their assistance?”

“The statements were and are 100 percent false and defamatory,” said Jenna Ellis, senior legal adviser to the campaign.

The Post responded to the suit.

“It’s disappointing to see the President’s campaign committee resorting to these types of tactics and we will vigorously defend this case,” said Kristine Coratti Kelly, vice president of communications for the news organization.

The complaint also alleges The Post was aware that the statements were false when it published them, “but did so for the intentional purpose of hurting the campaign, while misleading its own readers in the process.”