“There is nothing in the statute that limits the privilege to traditional print media,” U.S. Magistrate Judge John J. O’Sullivan wrote. | Charley Gallay/Getty Images for BuzzFeed Court rejects attempt to expose BuzzFeed’s source for dossier But legal professionals for Russian suing news outlet for libel say they’ve determined the news headlines outlet’s source.
A federal magistrate judge in Florida has rejected a bid by a Russian internet mogul to force BuzzFeed to detail how it obtained the dossier it published in January containing a variety of salacious claims about President Donald Trump’s connections to Russia.
The ruling was issued Thursday in connection with a libel suit Russian businessman Aleksej Gubarev filed in February alleging that he was defamed by BuzzFeed’s publication of assertions in the dossier that he and his businesses were involved in illicit support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates.
Story Continued Below
U.S. Magistrate Judge John J. O’Sullivan rejected arguments from Gubarev’s attorneys that as a Web-based news outlet BuzzFeed didn’t qualify as a news organization under a definition Florida’s shield law limiting legal demands for journalists’ records and sources.
“There is nothing in the statute that limits the privilege to traditional print media,” O’Sullivan wrote in an 11-page decision. “Because BuzzFeed writes stories and publishes news articles on its website, it qualifies as a ‘news agency,’ ‘news journal,’ or ‘news magazine.'”
However, a lawyer for Gubarev told POLITICO Thursday that the dispute is moot for the reason that Russian’s legal team has determined who the foundation is.
“What the Court really said here’s that before BuzzFeed could possibly be required to reveal its source, we had to get the information from other areas,” Gubarev lawyer Val Gurvits wrote via email. “As it turns out, we could actually get the information we wanted and were actually in the process of withdrawing the motion when your choice [was] issued.”
The most dependable politics newsletter. Join POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, each morning – in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Asked what was uncovered about BuzzFeed’s source for the dossier, Gurvits wouldn’t say.
“I sadly can’t reveal it – that information was designated ‘Confidential attorneys eyes only,'” the lawyer said. “So while we realize it, we can’t make it public as of yet.” He also declined to state who provided the information Gubarev’s team has been seeking.
The dossier was made by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele at the request of Fusion GPS, a Washington-based private investigation firm that commissioned the reports on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Fusion GPS officials briefed various news outlets on a number of the findings in the dossier, which also wound up in the hands of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). However, the firm has insisted it didn’t provide the reports to BuzzFeed.
The ruling Thursday says that in Gubarev’s bid to determine the outlet’s source for the dossier, his attorneys have sought testimony from Steele and Fusion GPS, and also the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones magazine, CNN, Yahoo News and a New York-based political consultant, William O’Reilly.
O’Sullivan’s ruling didn’t say that Gubarev would never be entitled to receive the information from BuzzFeed, but that his legal team had not exhausted its efforts to get the information from other sources, something a litigant must do before seeking confidential information from a news organization.
Writing on Twitter, BuzzFeed spokesman Matt Mittenthal called the ruling “a victory for journalists.”
“We’re pleased the judge has reaffirmed the right of news organizations to guard the identities of sources – a right that is protected under both state and federal law,” Mittenthal added in a statement. “And we continue to stand by our decision to create the dossier, which was being circulated at the highest degrees of government and may be the subject of multiple federal investigations.”
