With thousands of lawsuits involving him, former President Donald Trump is no stranger to litigation—whether he's fighting to conceal his financial records or being sued over unpaid wages.
Now, Trump has sued his niece, Mary Trump, after she revealed in her tell-all book that she was the source behind the bombshell 2018 New York Times report detailing the Trump family's years of tax schemes.
The suit, which also targets the three New York Times reporters behind the story, alleges that Ms. Trump broke a two-decade old confidentiality agreement by coming forward with the financial records. Trump's legal team is demanding at least $100 million in damages.
On MSNBC's The Choice with Zerlina Maxwell, legal analyst Glenn Kirschner said the suit was "dead in the water" for a number of reasons.
Watch below.
Donald Trump won\u2019t get any damages even *if* he wins his lawsuit against Mary Trump & NYT reporters.\n\n"You really can\u2019t damage the name of Donald Trump because he\u2019s inflicted so much injury on his own name,\u201d says @glennkirschner2pic.twitter.com/4spTyzXdfN— Zerlina on Peacock (@Zerlina on Peacock) 1632351772
Kirschner scoffed at Donald Trump's effort to sue the journalists involved:
"The Judge is going to say, 'Mr. Former President, it's called the First Amendment. It's called journalism. Case dismissed. Get over it.' So there's no 'there' there."
He then said the case against Mary Trump would likely fail as well:
"This precise issue was already litigated about a year ago … Robert Trump, Donald Trump's brother, brought suit to try to stop Mary Trump from publishing the book, and a different judge in New York ruled that the confidentiality agreement was drafted too vaguely to stop her from publishing the book."
But even if Mary Trump were to lose, Trump likely wouldn't see much in damages:
"You know what the jury would likely do? They would award Donald Trump one dollar in damages. Why? Because you can't exactly soil the good name of Donald Trump because it's not a good name to start. ... Exactly. You really can't damage the name of Donald Trump because he's inflicted so much injury on his own name."
People agreed with the assessment.
Glenn, Glenn, Glenn @glennkirschner2 is storming the former guy's castle of ridiculous claims. "You can't soil trump's name" because he's done that himself. Yes!https://twitter.com/ZerlinaShow/status/1440813879391444995\u00a0\u2026— #DecriminalizeSkin #TaxTheRich #FollowNorway (@#DecriminalizeSkin #TaxTheRich #FollowNorway) 1632367777
A man who bragged about not paying taxes because he was a "genius" and "knew more about the tax code than anyone" can hardly claim damages for records that showed he paid no taxes.— Rob Chappell (@Rob Chappell) 1632358363
Lmao absolutely true. His name is similar to Monsanto but not as profitable.— Elizabeth Kim (Liz, Lizzy or \uae40\ud61c\uc131) \ud83d\udcab (@Elizabeth Kim (Liz, Lizzy or \uae40\ud61c\uc131) \ud83d\udcab) 1632356274
Thank you Glenn for breaking this down\u2026— Jeannie Sadler (@Jeannie Sadler) 1632357254
The lawsuit has generated a multitude of reactions on social media
This will not go well for the Donald. \nDiscovery will crush him. @MaryLTrumphttps://twitter.com/harrysiegel/status/1440489958360305668\u00a0\u2026— Brian J. Karem (@Brian J. Karem) 1632275688
Mary Trump is gonna eat his lunch.https://twitter.com/harrysiegel/status/1440489958360305668\u00a0\u2026— Adam Parkhomenko (@Adam Parkhomenko) 1632275631
The suit claims NYT reporters were \u201cmotivated in part by their actual malice\u201d toward Trump, suggesting Trump\u2019s attorneys are vaguely aware that \u201cactual malice\u201d is a legal term, but don\u2019t understand what it means.https://twitter.com/harrysiegel/status/1440489958360305668\u00a0\u2026— Julian Sanchez (@Julian Sanchez) 1632311103
I don\u2019t know about Mary Trump but he\u2019ll lose with respect to NYT.https://twitter.com/harrysiegel/status/1440489958360305668\u00a0\u2026— Bradley P. Moss (@Bradley P. Moss) 1632274808
Discovery should be pay per view, raise money for families in need https://twitter.com/harrysiegel/status/1440489958360305668\u00a0\u2026— Andrea Morgan (@Andrea Morgan) 1632278601
The suit comes as more indictments of Trump Organization officials in New York are expected.
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