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WASHINGTON — Donald Trump promised Friday that the media would have major problems if he wins the presidency.
“If I become president, oh, do they have problems,’’ Trump said at a campaign rally in Fort Worth, Texas.
Trump, a candidate for the Republican nomination who is leading in the polls, threatened to “open up our libel laws’’ under his administration and make the media pay a hefty price for writing “hit’’ pieces.
“This is only going to make it tougher for me, and I’ve never said this before,’’ Trump told the crowd. “I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles we can sue them and win lots of money.’’
Under libel laws, public officials who sue must show there was malicious intent when the media outlet published false information. Freedom of the press is protected under the First Amendment.
Gregg Leslie, legal defense director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Associated Press Trump’s comments show “why we need libel protections.”
“Trump gets offended, he gets upset, and he wants to sue to retaliate,’’ Leslie said. “That’s not a good reason to sue someone.”
Trump has repeatedly clashed with media during his campaign for president. He has launched personal attacks against reporters and battled with debate moderators, including Fox’s Megyn Kelly. He had a much-publicized confrontation with Jorge Ramos, an anchor at Univision, when the journalist tried to ask a question at a press conference.
At Friday's rally, Trump called the media “among the most dishonest groups of people I’ve ever met. They’re terrible.’’  The crowd cheered.
Trump particularly singled out the New York Times, which he called a “failing newspaper’’ and “one of the most dishonest media outlets I’ve seen in my life ... the absolute worst. They have an agenda that you wouldn’t believe.’’
He also slammed the Washington Post.
Trump said that under his administration, if the New York Times “writes a hit piece, which is total disgrace, or when the Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.'
“You see, with me, they’re not protected,’’ he said.
Contact Deborah Barfield Berry at dberry@gannett.com.
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