Donald Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, has filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic for its reporting on his conduct while in office. If that sounds absurd, remember that ABC News and CBS parent Paramount have each coughed up millions of dollars to settle lawsuits from Trump himself over coverage he took issue with. Payouts like these might be pocket change for a giant corporation or billionaire backer. But for a small nonprofit news outlet like The Intercept, a lawsuit on this scale would be backbreaking — and we must assume it’s only a matter of time before the Trump administration comes after us as well. This kind of legal threat is exactly why The Intercept was forced to increase our media liability insurance policy last year. It wasn’t cheap, but it’s absolutely necessary in order to keep on delivering the kind of adversarial investigative journalism you expect from The Intercept in this environment. And the sad reality is that no matter how necessary our legal costs are, every dollar is one that can’t be spent on reporting or editing another investigation. If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: We know from firsthand experience that getting sued by a litigious billionaire can be extremely expensive. In 2020, The Intercept was sued by billionaire mercenary Erik Prince, the founder of the private security firm Blackwater. The case was eventually thrown out, but only after a yearslong legal fight that cost us more than $200,000 and countless hours of staff time. Now we’re facing a president who calls journalists “the enemy of the people” and has weaponized the full force of the federal government to attack news outlets that refuse to sing his praises. Even without rising legal costs, these are incredibly challenging times for the journalism industry. Thousands of news industry employees have been laid off in the last few years. This year alone has seen layoffs at the Washington Post, Associated Press, CBS News, ABC News, and Politico. Meanwhile, Big Tech algorithms are throttling traffic to independent news websites, making it harder and harder for readers to find us. Will you chip in $5? Every dollar counts, and we truly can’t make it without you. 
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The Intercept team
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