“Trump threatens” seems to be a headline we’re seeing a lot of these days. Whether it’s a threat to sue Bill Maher over a joke or a threat to drop a bombshell about President Obama, the tycoon hasn’t been afraid to speak out about his opinions…or promise to do something about them.
The latest story in the Trump saga is that he’s threatening to sue a man who began a petition back in December to get Macy’s to drop the millionaire from their ads. Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to the petition’s creator, Angelo Carusone, demanding that he drop it or face a lawsuit to the tune of $25 million.
“While you claim to be merely exercising or right to free speech, your egregious, premeditated and illegal conduct far exceeds anything protected by the Constitution. Rather than simply engage in lawful protest, you have apparently made it your mission to interfere with and intentionally disrupt Mr. Trump’s longstanding and well-established business relationship with Macy’s as well as his contractual dealings with other third parties through mob-like bullying and coercion,” the letter reportedly states.
But Carusone isn’t buying it, especially as he began the petition months ago and Trump seemed not to be fazed by it. When asked about the petition November, Trump said, “The fact is that there’s a large group of people who like Donald Trump and what Donald Trump says. I have no regrets.”
Carusone replied to Trump’s letter with one of his own, saying, Your letter repeatedly asserts, without any factual basis, that Carusone has exaggerated the extent to which members of the public have endorsed his boycott effort; you also contend, again without being specific, that Carusone casts Trump in a false light. There is a well-established First Amendment right to advocate a boycott over policy-related objections … I have no reason to believe that there is a tort of exaggerating the public support for a political campaign. If there were such a tort, I imagine that most candidates for public office, no doubt including your client, would be liable at one point or another.”