Alan Dershowitz Explains Why Trump’s Media Lawsuits Are Set Up to Fail in Us Courts

Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz warned on Newsmax Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s ongoing defamation lawsuits against major media outlets are unlikely to succeed under current U.S. legal standards.

Trump sued The New York Times for $15 billion Monday, accusing the paper of deliberately spreading “falsehoods” to damage his 2024 campaign and reputation. Appearing on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren,” Dershowitz said Trump faces an uphill legal battle because U.S. law requires him to prove not just false statements, but that they were made with “actual malice.”

“In the United States, he would have to prove not only that there were factual misstatements, not opinion, but factual misstatements, but that they were made with malice, that is, they were made with reckless disregard for the truth,” Dershowitz told host Greta Van Susteren.

While he personally believes the malice standard may be too restrictive, Dershowitz said that any meaningful change would require the Supreme Court to revisit and revise its own doctrine.

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