GOP strategist Cheri Jacobus is suing Donald Trump and his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, for defamation, saying they falsely portrayed her as a desperate job seeker who only criticized the GOP front-runner because he denied her a PR post with his campaign.
According to Jacobus’ $4 million defamation lawsuit, Lewandowski “wrongly and maliciously” made the claim on a January 27, 2016, Morning Joe broadcast.
“She [Megyn Kelly] had Cheri Jacobus on yesterday, who, uh, you know, wanted to talk about Mr. Trump. This is the same person, I’ll just tell ya, who came to us on multiple occasions trying to get a job from the Trump Campaign, and when she wasn’t hired clearly she went off and was upset like that,” Lewandowski said on a January 27, 2016 “Morning Joe” broadcast, according to the suit.
Trump himself echoed those same sentiments on Twitter:
Really dumb @CheriJacobus. Begged my people for a job. Turned her down twice and she went hostile. Major loser, zero credibility!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2016
According to the suit, the bombastic billionaire’s tweets incited a “virtual mob against her,” with a number of Trump’s six million strong Twitter followers calling Jacobus “a whore”, “b—h”, “nutcase,” and posting graphic photo illustrations of her “with gruesomely altered features.”
The “numerous graphic illustrations as an appropriate victim for rape and sexual assault” included “images of Jacobus bent over naked being raped from behind,” according to court papers.
The vitriol stems from the Trump campaign’s untrue claims that Jacobus wasn’t hired for the PR gig, the court papers say.
Jacobus’ suit includes Facebook messages from former Trump rep Jim Dornan recruiting her for the PR post in May 2015.
She met with Dornan and Lewandowski at the Trump Tower in New York last year, but turned down the job because of “boorish behavior by Lewandowski,” her Manhattan civil suit says.
Specifically, Lewandowski allegedly bragged about yelling at Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, who just months later would become a public target of the brash businessman.
Jacobus says in court papers that she never even formally applied for the job, and certainly didn’t hold a grudge against the campaign when she didn’t get it.
Ex-Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields is also reportedly planning to pursue civil action against Trump and Lewandowski over last month’s “GrabGate” incident.
Fields told TheBlaze that she is looking into bringing legal action against both Trump and Lewandowski for defamation of her character.
Fields left Breitbart along with several of her colleagues, in the wake of the incident.
She has since received numerous death threats, prompting her to abandon her apartment. One of the threats, which TheBlaze obtained audio of, is being investigated by the authorities.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member