Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, told New York’s Gabriel Sherman on Tuesday that he was considering suing BuzzFeed for an article by reporter McKay Coppins that included a litany of allegations of improper behavior, including pushing members of the press, threatening the aides of opposing campaigns, and making “unwanted romantic advances” and “sexual comments” to reporters. Lewandowski was most recently in the news for allegedly grabbing Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields. And last week, as Sherman notes in his report, Politico posted a lengthy investigation into Lewandowski’s professional behavior, which included an incident in which he called a coworker a “cunt.”
Threatening to sue members of the press is nothing new, but this is notable in the wake of Hulk Hogan winning $140 million in damages in his lawsuit against Gawker. Trump had previously stated a desire to “open up” libel laws, but speaking to The Washington Post yesterday, he indicated that the Hogan verdict might make that unnecessary. In a way, Lewandowski is testing that theory, and seeing how far the threat of a lawsuit against a media organization can go after Hogan leg-dropped Gawker.