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Trump threatens suit over 'Dump Trump' Macy's boycott

By Kristen Butler, UPI.com
Donald Trump is threatening to sue Angelo Carusone over an online petition urging retailer Macy's to "Dump Trump" as a brand spokesperson. (File/UPI/Monika Graff.)
Donald Trump is threatening to sue Angelo Carusone over an online petition urging retailer Macy's to "Dump Trump" as a brand spokesperson. (File/UPI/Monika Graff.) | License Photo

Donald Trump has threatened Angelo Carusone, who started an online petition urging Macy’s to Dump Trump, with a $25 million lawsuit if he continues to push for Macy’s to drop the controversial TV personality’s brand of bigoted bullying and pattern of racist, sexist and mean-spirited comments.

Donald Trump’s attorney sent Angelo Carusone a cease-and-desist letter on December 27, after mobile billboards appeared around Macy’s Herald Square store and corporate headquarters in Cincinnati urging the company to restore the “Magic of Macy’s.” In the letter, Trump’s attorney, Alan Garten, accused Carusone of “mob-like bullying and coercion” and “intentionally disseminating misinformation.”

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In a January 23 response letter, Paul Alan Levy of Public Citizen, Carusone’s attorney, challenged Garten’s claims.

“There is a well-established First Amendment right to advocate a boycott over policy-related objections ... I have no reason to believe that there is a tort of exaggerating the public support for a political campaign. If there were such a tort, I imagine that most candidates for public office, no doubt including your client, would be liable at one point or another.”

"I've dealt with enough bullies and know better than to succumb to intimidation,” said Angelo Carusone. “By threatening me, Trump is only reinforcing the point that we've been trying to get Macy's to recognize: that Trump's brand is consequence-free bullying and chicanery; it shouldn't be rewarded."

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Since Angelo’s petition was launched on SignOn.org last November, more than 680,000 people have signed. YouGov Brandindex reported a sharp decline in loyalty among female customers of Macy's, attributing it to the brand's association with Donald Trump.

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