Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward over ‘Trump tapes’ – Washington Examiner
A federal judge in New York has dismissed former President Donald Trump’s $49 million lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward concerning the ownership of recorded interviews. the lawsuit stemmed from Woodward’s use of audio interviews with Trump, originally conducted during his first term in office and featured in Woodward’s books *Rage* and *The Trump Tapes*. Trump claimed he held copyright over the recordings, asserting they where made solely for the 2020 book. Though, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe ruled that under federal copyright law, Trump dose not have a copyright interest in his responses during interviews, and woodward’s use of the recordings is lawful. Trump’s legal team has until August 18 to amend their complaint. Woodward, known for his critical coverage of Trump, denies any restrictions on the use of the interviews. The case highlights legal boundaries regarding copyright ownership of recorded interviews.
Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward over ‘Trump tapes’
A federal judge in New York on Friday dismissed President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward regarding the ownership of interviews with the president published by the leading reporter.
In the last year of his first term in the Oval Office, Trump sat for over two dozen interviews with Woodward as the journalist wrote the 2020 book, Rage. Two years later, Woodward used audio recordings from the interviews as the basis for a second book, The Trump Tapes, leading the president to mount a $49 million lawsuit in 2023, alleging that he owned the copyright to 20 interviews and that they were recorded “for the sole purpose of Woodward being able to write a single book.”
However, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York dismissed Trump’s arguments that he is a joint author of the tapes, writing that federal copyright law preempts state law claims when it comes to Woodward’s right to use the information.
“There is almost no support in the case law for the notion that an interviewee has a copyright interest in his responses to interview questions, and such a conclusion would run counter to animating principles of the Copyright Act,” the judge wrote.
Trump’s legal team has one month, until August 18, to amend his complaint a third time.
The lawsuit has dragged out for years after Trump first sued Woodward in January 2023, saying he told the journalist that the interviews were meant solely for the 2020 book. Woodward has denied those claims, saying he never agreed to the restrictions.
The Trump Tapes contained 19 interviews Woodward conducted with Trump at the White House and Mar-a-Lago between December 2019 and August 2020, as well as one interview he did with the president in 2016.
Woodward is known as a deep Trump skeptic, painting unflattering portraits of the president in multiple books, including, most recently, his 2024 book, War, which came out as the president was running for reelection last year.
At the time, the Trump campaign labeled the book “the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
TRUMP CAMPAIGN CALLS BOB WOODWARD A ‘DERANGED MAN’ AHEAD OF NEW BOOK
“Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously. President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue. Woodward is a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally, and he’s slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality,” a spokesman continued.
The White House and Trump’s legal team did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
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