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Trump supports a student going after media in legal battle

This week, Trump took a break from various political crises to Tweet his support for Nick Sandmann, a senior at Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky. Sandmann sued the Washington Post and other media outlets that allegedly smeared him as a “racist” following a clash with a Native American demonstrator in Washington, DC.

“A Federal Judge is allowing the Nick Sandman libel suit to move forward against the thoroughly disgusting Washington Post (which is no longer available at the White House!). He could now have a good chance of winning. Go Nick!” Trump tweeted.

Sandmann was with a group of classmates at the March For Life, an anti-abortion rally held in Washington, DC each January. As the students waited for their bus after the march, a group of counter-protesters began heckling them. A Native American man named Nathan Phillips then approached Sandmann and his classmates, banging a drum and chanting.

Sandmann claims media outlets, including the Washington Post, made false and defamatory claims, such as that he’d “harassed” Phillips. A U.S. District judge ruled that the lawsuit can proceed.

“The Sandmann family and our legal team are grateful that Judge Bertelsman has allowed the case to proceed,” one of Sandmann’s lawyers said in a statement. “The Court’s ruling preserves the heart of the Nicholas Sandmann’s claims. We can consider this a huge victory and look forward to initiating discovery against the Washington Post.”