BUT HIS TAPES

Trump Sues Journalist Bob Woodward for $49M Over Interview Recordings

The former president accused Bob Woodward of “systematic usurpation, manipulation, and exploitation” of interview audio the journalist recorded and released as a 2022 audiobook.

Donald Trump filed a $49 million lawsuit Monday against the journalist Bob Woodward, with the former president claiming he never granted permission for Woodward to release the recordings of their interviews as part of an audiobook. In the 31-page complaint, which also names Simon & Schuster Inc. and parent company Paramount Global as defendants, Trump insists that he never agreed to allow the “raw” audio tapes of 19 interviews he gave Woodward in 2019 and 2020 to be sold to the public. “This case centers on Mr. Woodward’s systematic usurpation, manipulation, and exploitation of audio of President Trump,” the lawsuit states, allowing that Trump consented to Woodward recording him “for the sole purpose of a book.” The interviews were used by Woodward for his 2020 book Rage, with the veteran journalist going on to release an audiobook of the interviews, called The Trump Tapes, in Oct. 22. Trump’s Monday lawsuit seeks at least $49,980,000 in damages.