7 Times Trump Threatened Lawsuits, Then Chickened Out

Now that his campaign manager is being charged with battery against former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, real estate mogul Donald Trump has threatened to sue Fields in response.

“I’m sure there will be a counter-claim coming down the line,” Trump said on ABC’s “Good Morning America. “Should I file charges against her because she touched my arm as well?”

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey explains why any counter-charges from the Trump campaign would go nowhere here, but it is yet another example of tough-guy Trump pontificating about a lawsuit and then not putting his money where his mouth is when people call his bluff. Here are seven times where he has threatened a lawsuit and chickened out.

1. Trump threatened to sue Louisiana delegates for having the temerity to support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) over him. Trump barely eked out a victory over Cruz in Louisiana, but they were both originally awarded 18 delegates due to the fact that Louisiana allocates delegates proportionally. As it turns out, Cruz would win as many as 10 more delegates than Trump in the state due to Cruz’s superior campaign organization and ability to win over unbound delegates. This did not sit well with Trump:

Just to show you how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the State of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz-Lawsuit coming

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016

Obviously that lawsuit won’t go anywhere, because Cruz won the delegates through the state’s rules. This is why Trump hasn’t filed the lawsuit and why it’s an empty threat.

2. Trump threatening to sue Cruz over the false charges of “voter fraud” in Iowa. Because Trump is a thin-skinned sore loser, he couldn’t fathom the possibility that Cruz actually beat him in the Iowa caucuses. So he pounced on the story that Cruz somehow took away votes from Dr. Ben Carson.

“I probably will,” Trump responded when asked on Boston Herald Radio if he would sue Cruz over the issue. But Trump never filed the suit, because it’s clear that the Cruz campaign was spreading a story originally reported by CNN. Another empty Trump threat.

3. Trump threatening to sue Cruz for the heinous crime of running a political ad against him. Trump thought Cruz was being mean to him by running a political ad against him, so he threatened to file a lawsuit against him. Cruz called Trump on his bluff in a press conference.

“Donald, if you want to file a lawsuit challenging this ad, claiming it’s defamation, file the lawsuit,” Cruz challenged.

Trump didn’t file the lawsuit.

4. Trump threatening to file a lawsuit challenging Cruz’s eligibility to run as president. When Cruz began to rise in the polls, Trump sought to derail him through charges that Cruz was ineligible to run since he was born in Canada. Later, Trump threatened to sue Cruz over the matter if he didn’t “clean up his act.”

If @TedCruz doesn’t clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2016

Trump has yet to file this lawsuit because he likely wouldn’t have standing.

5. Trump threatening to sue The Washington Post for running a story about a casino bankruptcy. In January, the Post ran a lengthy article detailing the Trump Taj Mahal casino’s bankruptcy in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The story being published apparently scared Trump enough to threaten a lawsuit.

“If you write this one, I’m suing you,” Trump warned.

The Post published the story, and the lawsuit from Trump never came.

6. Trump withdrawing a $5 million lawsuit against comedian Bill Maher. In 2013, Maher jokingly made a bet that he would provide $5 million to a charity of Trump’s choice if he could prove that he wasn’t the “spawn of his mother having sex with orangutan.” Trump took it literally and sent Maher his birth certificate and then filed a lawsuit when Maher didn’t respond. Trump later withdrew the lawsuit.

7. Trump threatening to sue rapper Mac Miller. In 2011, Miller released a song titled “Donald Trump,” which didn’t sit well with the businessman since he never gave permission. Miller begged Trump to show mercy and sent him a plaque as a peace offering. This further enraged Trump:

Little @MacMiller, you illegally used my name for your song “Donald Trump” which now has over 75 million hits.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2013

Little @MacMiller, I want the money not the plaque you gave me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2013

Little @MacMiller, I’m now going to teach you a big boy lesson about lawsuits and finance. You ungrateful dog!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2013

As usual, Trump didn’t follow through on his threat to file a lawsuit when he realized that the song received 20 million hits on YouTube.