4 Nov 2016 9:12 pm
Trump explains why the First Amendment has ‘too much protection’ for free speech.
Trump: “Our press is allowed to say whatever they want.”
If Donald Trump is president, he’d like to make some changes to the First Amendment.
In an interview with WFOR, CBS’ Miami affiliate, Trump was asked if he believes the First Amendment provides “too much protection.”
Trump answered in the affirmative, saying he’d like to change the laws to make it easier to sue media companies. Trump lamented that, under current law, “our press is allowed to say whatever they want.”
He recommended moving to a system like in England where someone who sues a media company has “a good chance of winning.”
Trump is right that he would have a better chance of prevailing under English law where an allegedly defamatory statement is presumed to be false.
There, it is up to the defendant in a libel suit to prove that their statements are true.