A former campaign manager for President Donald Trump has filed a federal lawsuit against The Daily Beast over its reporting that allegedly painted him as a greedy official who prioritized his personal benefit over the effectiveness of Trump’s position in the election.
The defamation case filed by Chris LaCivita focuses squarely on a claim that he was paid $22 million for his advocacy work on the Trump campaign while the campaign itself was in the middle of a financial crisis. The Daily Beast later amended its story to clarify that LaCivita was actually paid $19.2 million, not the $22 million first reported.
The amendment was made after LaCivita objected to the original report and provided campaign finance documents from the Federal Election Commission that showed how much the Trump campaign paid him for his work.
Mark Geragos, a prolific litigator whose past or current clients include convicted murderer Scott Peterson and former Congressman Gary Condit, is representing LaCivita in the lawsuit. He told the New York Times on Tuesday that the Daily Beast had a duty to investigate and “follow the money before publishing lies in order to get clicks and push their political agenda.”
The article in question was written by freelance journalist Michael Isikoff, who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. A biography on the Daily Beast website identified Isikoff as a “national investigative correspondent for NBC News,” though he left the broadcaster 11 years ago. His last article for the Daily Beast was published on October 28 — about one week after the problematic story at the center of LaCivita’s lawsuit.
The Daily Beast says it stands by Isikoff’s report.
“His lawsuit is meritless and a transparent attempt to intimidate The Beast and silence the independent press,” a spokesperson for the news outlet said in a statement. “The Beast will defend itself vigorously and looks forward to following the money to confirm where every penny flowed in LaCivita’s L.L.C.”
