Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against renowned journalist Bob Woodward for almost $50 million, claiming that he did not give consent to the reporter/author to publish tapes of their interviews as an audiobook.
Trump’s lawsuit also targets the publisher of Woodward’s audiobook, Simon & Schuster, and Paramount Global, its parent company.
The audiobook containing the Trump tapes was released in October last year under the title: The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward’s Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump. The book received many positive reviews and did well compared to the journalist’s other books about the former president.
The interviews between Woodward and Trump, which make up the Trump Tapes, were conducted between 2019 and 2020, as the journalist was writing another book about the Trump administration, entitled “Rage.”
Trump’s legal team filed the suit on Monday, January 30, in the northern district of Florida. His lawyers claimed the suit was based on the journalist’s manipulation, usurpation, and exploitation of former president Trump’s audio.
The lawsuit alleges that the recordings were supposed to be used for the book Woodward was writing, “Rage.”
The lawsuit says that Trump told Woodward on several occasions that the recordings had a limited license and therefore retained to himself all other rights, including the commercialization of the narration.
On Monday night, Trump said that the defendants were wrongfully profiting off his voice and attempting to make him look bad.
The audiobook has been made into CDs, e-books, and paperbacks.
Simon & Schuster and Bob Woodward released a joint statement saying Trump’s lawsuit is without merit, and that they will defend themselves in court.
“All these interviews were on the record and recorded with President Trump’s knowledge and agreement,” the statement said. “Moreover, it is in the public interest to have this historical record in Trump’s own words. We are confident that the facts and the law are in our favor.”
