President Donald Trump is trying to dodge a lawsuit from the co-founders of his Truth Social platform by claiming presidential immunity, according to a new report in Bloomberg.
Lawyers for the president on Thursday told a Delaware judge that the case against Trump, brought by Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, two former contestants on “The Apprentice” who helped launch the platform, should be dismissed or paused because his duties as president shield him from civil litigation.
Litinsky and Moss alleged Trump tried to unfairly dilute their 8.6% stake in the MAGA-friendly social media platform and squeeze them out of its initial public offering, according to Bloomberg. They called Trump’s claim of immunity an attempt to “obfuscate and delay” the case, the publication added.
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“Trump is actively litigating claims as a plaintiff in state and federal court without raising presidential immunity,” the attorneys argued before Delaware Chancery Court Judge Lori. “He should not be permitted to use this (non-existent) immunity as both a sword and a shield.”
But Trump's lawyers arrived ready to battle.
“Delaware should not open the door” to letting Trump’s political opponents tie him up in state-court lawsuits, one of Trump’s attorneys, John Reed, argued, as reported by Bloomberg. He pointed out that Trump has been named in 14 lawsuits personally during just the first five months of his second term.
Trump has vowed not to sell his 60% stake in the company, which plunged in value after going public but surged again after his election victory. The lawsuit also names as defendants Donald Trump Jr., FBI Director Kash Patel and former Rep. Devin Nunes, all Truth Social directors.