Trump tells Bill O'Reilly he is 'looking forward' to a deposition in his lawsuit with Big Tech and is 'ready for war' because the social media giants are 'destroying our nation'
- Trump said he was ready for 'war' with Big Tech after launching lawsuit
- He accused Twitter, Facebook and Google of 'destroying our nation' in interview
- Legal experts believe lawsuit with expose Trump to awkward questions about his role in run-up to Jan. 6 violence
- But the former president said he was 'looking forward' to being deposed
- His political action committee has begun fundraising to back the long-shot suit
Former President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sit for a deposition in his lawsuits against Twitter, Facebook and Google and would use the opportunity to lay out his claims of election fraud.
In an interview with conservative TV host Bill O'Reilly on Wednesday, Trump also said he was ready for 'war' with Big Tech.
Legal experts have said that his case applying the First Amendment to private companies faces significant hurdles and that the process of discovery - when the two sides disclose the witnesses and evidence they will present at trial - could reveal new details about Trump's role in the run-up to violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
But Trump said he was happy to be quizzed by his opponents' lawyers in a deposition.
'I look forward to it,' he said in an interview to be broadcast on O'Reilly's show The First on Thursday evening.
'I love talking about the election fraud because it was the most fraudulent election - well, I think we've had a lot of them frankly - but the most fraudulent election in the history of our country.
Former President Trump said he was ready to be deposed by lawyers for his lawsuit against Twitter, Facebook and Google. He said he would use it lay out his election fraud claims
Trump told Bill O'Reilly that he and his team were ready for 'war' with Big Tech. 'They're doing bad things and they're really hurting our nation and maybe in the process of destroying our nation,' he said. 'We're not going to let that happen'
Trump announced his lawsuit on Wednesday morning at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey. 'We're going to hold Big Tech very accountable,' he said
Opponents believe the lawsuit will open Trump to having to answer questions about his role in the run-up to the assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6
'People know it.
'Every day we're finding more and more proof of that.
'If you look at Georgia. if you look at Arizona.
'Now look at what's happening with Pennsylvania, where they're starting to go into it in great detail, and we're talking about game changers.'
Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud were repeatedly flagged as misleading by social media companies after last year's election.
And he has been banned from Twitter, Facebook and Google since since January, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Twitter pointed to two subsequent tweets in which he announced he would not be attending Joe Biden's inauguration and that his supporters would not be 'disrespected' as potentially giving a green light to future violence.
On Wednesday, Trump announced lawsuits against Twitter, Facebook and Google.
'We're asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to social media companies' illegal, shameful censorship of the American people,' he said.
'We're going to hold Big Tech very accountable.'
The two tweets that got Trump banned by Twitter. The social media platform said the comments fell foul of its Glorification of Violence Policy and that it would suspend him immediately. The second tweet, it said, may serve as encouragement to those considering violent acts that the inauguration would be a 'safe' target, as Trump would not be attending
The three are all private companies and users must agree to their terms of service, which legal experts said would make it difficult to argue they were government agents and subject to First Amendment protections on free speech.
However, Trump and his lawyers say that the platforms have bowed to the wishes of Congress and have been given certain legal immunities, which mean they no longer have all the rights of private companies.
The approach is unprecedented but comes at a time when social media companies are under intense scrutiny for their growing role in public conversation.
Trump said his team was ready for the fight.
'Everything is a war,' said Trump
'With me, life is a war. And yeah we're prepared and somebody had to do.'
He said his move was popular with supporters.
'Everybody's wanted me to do this,' he said. They're bad, they're bad people.
'They're doing bad things and they're really hurting our nation and maybe in the process of destroying our nation.
'We're not going to let that happen.'
However, skeptics see an ulterior motive. On Wednesday, hours after announcing the suit, Trump's political action committee sent out fundraising emails.
'This will be an uphill battle friend, and I cannot do it alone,' it said. 'I need you to stand with me and fight back.'
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The hurdle that Trump's legal strategy must overcome if he is to win First Amendment case that Twitter, Facebook and Google violated his freedom of speech
When Trump and his supporters claimed his First Amendment rights had been violated in January by his social media ban legal experts were quick to point out the free speech protections only applied to government censorship - and did not extend to private companies.
Six months later, on Wednesday morning, his legal team revealed how they planned to redefine how the law should view Facebook, Twitter and Google.
John P. Coale said their case would show how Big Tech was acting as an agent of government.
And Pam Bondi said public hearings showed how members of Congress had tried to coerce the platforms to do their bidding or at other times had colluded with them to silence conservatives.
Trump himself said that the platforms could no longer be considered completely private companies when they had been given protections from being sued for content posted by users.
But Paul Gowder, a professor of law at Northwestern University, said the complaint did not pass the 'laugh test.'
'The government grants all kinds of companies immunity from all kinds of things,' he said.
'Members of Congress subpoena people from all kinds of companies to yell at them all the time.'
Being shouted at by members of Congress or being given immunity in certain spheres did not turn a private company into a government agent, he added.
Legal experts voiced skepticism that Trump's suit could win, saying that he would struggle to show that First Amendment speech protections should be extended to social media platforms
Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University in California who has studied more than 60 similar, failed lawsuits that took on internet companies for terminating or suspending users' accounts, told the Associated Press: 'They've argued everything under the sun, including First Amendment, and they get nowhere.
'Maybe he's got a trick up his sleeve that will give him a leg up on the dozens of lawsuits before him. I doubt it.'
Even some of Trump's most loyal supporters appeared to concede that a win in the courts might be tough.
'At the end of the day, the courts might agree with you,' said Sen. Ted Cruz in response to a skeptic on Twitter, 'but here’s a credible argument by serious thinkers that Big Tech—by directly implementing govt policy, at the express behest of govt decision-makers—have become de facto state actors.'
The merits of the case will be up to the Southern District of Florida court, where Trump's team has filed its complaint, to decide.
But a ruling last week indicates the difficulties. A judge in northern Florida blocked a new law that would have penalized social media companies for blocking a politician’s posts.
'The plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim that these statutes violate the First Amendment,' said U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle. 'There is nothing that could be severed and survive.'
