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The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump's lawsuit against Bob Woodward over audiobook is dismissed
A federal judge has dismissed President Donald Trump's civil suit against journalist Bob Woodward over his audiobook. The president sued Woodward, publisher Simon and Schuster, and its former owner Paramount Global in January 2023, claiming he was a joint author and had a copyright interest in the interviews that were used for Woodward's 2022 audiobook The Trump Tapes. Judge Paul G. Gardephe granted Woodward's motion to dismiss the president's lawsuit on Friday. Trump's second amended complaint, filed in April 2023, 'does not plausibly allege that the parties 'fully intended to be co-authors' of a joint work,' the judge wrote. The president had argued his interviews with Woodward 'were not provided in the scope of President Trump's employment by the federal government' but were 'prepared at President Trump's own volition and outside of his official duties.' All the interviews were conducted when Trump was in office, the defendants countered, noting Trump sat for 19 interviews between December 2019 and August 2020. They added the Copyright Act 'bars government officials like President Trump from asserting any copyright in an interview conducted as part of their official duties,' meaning he fails to state an authorship claim. 'No president before Donald Trump ever claimed to own a copyright in presidential interviews or demanded royalties for their republication,' the defendants claimed. They pointed out that Woodward has written books about 10 presidents. Woodward was the 'sole architect and true author,' the journalist's lawyers wrote in a filing. Woodward, a longtime investigative journalist, who uncovered the Watergate scandal at The Washington Post, had conducted several interviews and audio recordings with Trump during the final year of his first term. Trump's team argued that when he agreed to the interviews, 'he was agreeing to be recorded for the sole purpose of Woodward being able to write a single book.' The president was referring to the book Rage, which was published in September 2020. In addition to the audio book, Woodward has penned a trilogy of the Trump presidency with his books Rage, Fear and Peril. About 20 percent of Rage stemmed from interviews with the president, Woodward's legal team argued. The judge left the door slightly ajar for Trump, giving him a chance to amend his complaint and refile it by August 18. 'While it appears unlikely that Plaintiff can adequately plead a plausible copyright interest in The Trump Tapes or any non-preempted state law claim, this Court cannot find at this stage that any amendment would be futile. Accordingly, leave to move to amend is granted,' Gardephe wrote. Trump was seeking nearly $50 million. A spokesperson for Trump's legal team told Reuters in a statement: 'In another biased action by a New York Court, this wrongful decision was issued without even affording President Trump the basic due process of a hearing. We will continue to ensure that those who commit wrongdoing against President Trump and all Americans are held accountable.' The president's legal defeat comes as he launches a fresh lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. The paper published a story on Thursday alleging Trump sent disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein a bawdy birthday card for his 50th birthday. Trump vehemently denied the claims. 'This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story,' he told the outlet. 'I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women.' He is suing The WSJ and its owners for defamation and is seeking $10 billion.
CBS News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Book excerpt: "I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir" by Keith McNally
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article. British-born restaurateur Keith McNally was responsible for the opening of such popular New York City institutions as The Odeon, Balthazar and Pastis. But a 2016 stroke, which caused immobility and affected his speech, led him to attempt suicide two years later. He's recounted his story in the irreverent memoir "I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir" (Simon & Schuster). Read an excerpt below, and don't miss Mo Rocca's interview with Keith McNally on "CBS Sunday Morning" July 20! "I Regret Almost Everything" by Keith McNally Prefer to listen? Audible has a 30-day free trial available right now. There was a time when everything worked. ... I'd been happily married and the owner of eight successful Manhattan restaurants, including Balthazar in SoHo. In 2004, the New York Times had called me "The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown." I had everything going for me. And then on November 26, 2016, the clock stopped. I was living in London. One Saturday morning I coaxed my youngest children, George and Alice, into seeing a Caravaggio exhibition with me at the National Gallery. George was thirteen, Alice eleven. While looking at a painting of Jesus being betrayed by Judas, The Taking of Christ, I sensed my body beginning to show signs of betraying me: a strange metallic tingling started to pinch my fingertips. It was an odd feeling, but as it stopped after five or six seconds, I didn't give it another thought. Soon afterward, to the relief of my children, we left the museum. Two hours later, when I was back home by myself, the metallic feeling returned. Only this time it was in earnest. Within seconds the horrific tingling shot up my left arm and, like some malignant jellyfish, clasped itself onto my face. Terrified, I phoned Alina, who rushed back with the kids and instantly called an ambulance. George, fists clenched, was panic-stricken as medics examined my convulsing body. Within minutes I was being hoisted into the waiting ambulance. Alina, George and Alice looked on. I woke up several hours later in Charing Cross Hospital. The first thing the doctor told me was that I'd had a stroke. The second thing was that my brain would never be the same again. Perhaps his bluntness was necessary for legal reasons, but from where I stood—or lay—it was a brutal awakening. After the doctor left, I tried wriggling my arms and legs to check that I wasn't paralyzed. I wasn't, thank God. To test my memory, I wrote the alphabet on the back of the nurse's chart. I then tried saying the letters aloud, but here there was a problem. The words wouldn't conform to my efforts. They exited my mouth in such a slurred and disorderly way that I sounded like a stage drunk. But this was a small price to pay for my stroke. My first stroke, that is. Because the next day the artillery arrived and gave me such a hammering that in one fell swoop I lost the use of my right hand, right arm and right leg. And my slurred speech, perhaps in fright, went AWOL. Overnight I was confined to a wheelchair and deprived of language. So much for The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown. * * * I shared a ward with five other men whose ages ranged from forty to eighty. At night, with words inaccessible to me, I'd listen in awe to them talking. Speech suddenly seemed like a divine accomplishment. Even everyday words had an element of poetry to them. I dreaded the moment when the men would stop talking and I'd be left with my own thoughts. Sleepless, half-paralyzed and unable to speak, I felt buried alive. More than anything, I wished the stroke had killed me. Bereft of speech and right side unusable, I wondered how my relationship with Alina might change. And with George and Alice also. All children exaggerate their father's strength. Most sense it ebbing away imperceptibly over twenty or so years. Generally, a father's decline appears natural, tolerable even. It wasn't going to be like that for my children. My new life seemed ungraspable. It existed, but was outside of me. On my second day in the hospital, Alina arranged for George and Alice to visit. An hour before they were due, I became so ashamed of them seeing me disabled that I canceled the visit. The next day I could hold out no longer. Hospitals are a great leveler. Like soldiers at war, patients lose all distinctiveness. As they entered the ward, George and Alice failed to recognize me. I was lying at the end of a row of identical beds, assimilating into the world of the sick and dying. Although it had only been three days since I last saw them, they looked years younger. They stood by the door, small eyes darting from one sick man to the next, searching for some identifiable sign of their father. After a few seconds they rushed to my bed. Alice seemed happy to see me, but George looked angry and said less than usual. He'd behaved in a similar way a year earlier after watching me lose a match in a squash tournament. Back then, I found his anger confusing. Now it made sense. Alina put on a brave face but was so shell-shocked she said little. I managed to gurgle out a few words, and in between the long silences the heavy breathing of the man in the next bed entered uncomfortably into our space. Alina told the children I was going to regain my voice and would soon be walking out of the hospital. Neither responded. When the three of them left, I wept for the first time in twenty years. From "I Regret Almost Everything" by Keith McNally. Copyright © 2025 by Keith McNally. Excerpted with permission by Simon & Schuster, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Get the book here: "I Regret Almost Everything" by Keith McNally Buy locally from For more info:
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Donald Trump's lawsuit against Bob Woodward over audiobook is dismissed
NEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters) - Donald Trump cannot pursue his nearly $50 million lawsuit against the journalist Bob Woodward for publishing tapes from interviews for his 2020 best-seller "Rage" as an audiobook, a federal judge ruled on Friday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan is a victory for Woodward, his publisher Simon & Schuster and its former owner Paramount Global (PARA.O), opens new tab. They had argued that federal law barred the U.S. president from copyrighting interviews conducted as part of his official duties, and that no president before him ever demanded royalties for publishing presidential interviews. The defendants also called Woodward the "sole architect and true author" of the interviews, just as journalists like the late Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters were in interviews with other presidents. Woodward also said his interviews reflected "classic news reporting" that helped convey accurate information to the public, and thus amounted to "fair use." Trump was interviewed by Woodward Trump 19 times between December 2019 and August 2020, and about 20% of "Rage" came from the interviews. The book was released in September 2020, while the audiobook "The Trump Tapes," including Woodward's commentary, was released in October 2022. Trump sued in January 2023, saying he told Woodward repeatedly that the interviews were meant solely for the book. Woodward said he never agreed to that restriction. The $49.98 million damages request was based on what Trump's lawyers called projected sales of 2 million audiobooks at $24.99 each. Paramount sold Simon & Schuster in October 2023 to private equity firm KKR (KKR.N), opens new tab for $1.62 billion in cash. The case is Trump v Simon & Schuster Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-06883.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Donald Trump's lawsuit against Bob Woodward over audiobook is dismissed
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump cannot pursue his nearly $50 million lawsuit against the journalist Bob Woodward for publishing tapes from interviews for his 2020 best-seller "Rage" as an audiobook, a federal judge ruled on Friday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan is a victory for Woodward, his publisher Simon & Schuster and its former owner Paramount Global. They had argued that federal law barred the U.S. president from copyrighting interviews conducted as part of his official duties, and that no president before him ever demanded royalties for publishing presidential interviews. The defendants also called Woodward the "sole architect and true author" of the interviews, just as journalists like the late Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters were in interviews with other presidents. Woodward also said his interviews reflected "classic news reporting" that helped convey accurate information to the public, and thus amounted to "fair use." Trump was interviewed by Woodward Trump 19 times between December 2019 and August 2020, and about 20% of "Rage" came from the interviews. The book was released in September 2020, while the audiobook "The Trump Tapes," including Woodward's commentary, was released in October 2022. Trump sued in January 2023, saying he told Woodward repeatedly that the interviews were meant solely for the book. Woodward said he never agreed to that restriction. The $49.98 million damages request was based on what Trump's lawyers called projected sales of 2 million audiobooks at $24.99 each. Paramount sold Simon & Schuster in October 2023 to private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion in cash. The case is Trump v Simon & Schuster Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-06883.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Donald Trump's lawsuit against Bob Woodward over audiobook is dismissed
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump cannot pursue his nearly $50 million lawsuit against the journalist Bob Woodward for publishing tapes from interviews for his 2020 best-seller "Rage" as an audiobook, a federal judge ruled on Friday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan is a victory for Woodward, his publisher Simon & Schuster and its former owner Paramount Global. They had argued that federal law barred the U.S. president from copyrighting interviews conducted as part of his official duties, and that no president before him ever demanded royalties for publishing presidential interviews. The defendants also called Woodward the "sole architect and true author" of the interviews, just as journalists like the late Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters were in interviews with other presidents. Woodward also said his interviews reflected "classic news reporting" that helped convey accurate information to the public, and thus amounted to "fair use." Trump was interviewed by Woodward Trump 19 times between December 2019 and August 2020, and about 20% of "Rage" came from the interviews. The book was released in September 2020, while the audiobook "The Trump Tapes," including Woodward's commentary, was released in October 2022. Trump sued in January 2023, saying he told Woodward repeatedly that the interviews were meant solely for the book. Woodward said he never agreed to that restriction. The $49.98 million damages request was based on what Trump's lawyers called projected sales of 2 million audiobooks at $24.99 each. Paramount sold Simon & Schuster in October 2023 to private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion in cash. The case is Trump v Simon & Schuster Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-06883.
