LA Times planned a ‘Case Against Trump’ series alongside Kamala Harris’ endorsement before the owner quashed it

In addition to Kamala Harris’ endorsement, the Los Angeles Times editorial board had also planned a multi-part series against Donald Trump before the entire case was quashed by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, TheWrap has learned.

According to internal memos obtained by TheWrap, the series, tentatively called “The Case Against Trump,” would have lasted all week. Kamala Harris’ endorsement would then have been published on Sunday.

However, Soon-Shiong ordered the series’ cancellation and approval without explanation, current and now former employees have confirmed, causing a massive crisis for the 142-year-old newspaper.

The South African-American billionaire’s interference in his newspaper’s editorial independence has led to a rise in subscription cancellations and a number of high-profile layoffs, as well as signs of growing unrest among staff.

On Thursday, editorial writer Karin Klein and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Greene both quit. They followed editor-in-chief Mariel Garza, who resigned in protest on Wednesday. Both Klein and Garza specifically cited Soon-Shiong’s actions as the reason for their departure.

The owner “vetoed the editors’ plan to endorse Kamala Harris for president,” Garza said in her resignation letter. And citing the fact that the LA Times has endorsed multiple candidates at the local and state levels, she said rescinding Harris’ endorsement “undermines the integrity of the editorial board and every single endorsement we make, down to school board races .”

“People will rightly wonder whether any approval was a decision made by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or by decision of the owner,” she added.

In a hypocritical statement posted Wednesday on the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Soon-Shiong blamed the editors themselves for the lack of approval, but also essentially confirmed that he had effectively shut down the site. He said the administration was “given an opportunity” to effectively create a false equivalency between Trump and Harris in op-eds laying out the pros and cons of each candidate.

“Rather than follow this path as suggested, the editors chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision,” Soon-Shiong concluded.

“We pitched an endorsement and were not allowed to write one,” Garza shot back in a statement provided exclusively to TheWrap. And Klein, who also called Soon-Shiong a “chicken,” clearly stated in a letter explaining her resignation that “the board was not the one that chose to remain silent.” He blocked our vote.”

Since this dismissal, Soon-Shiong’s daughter has also made the ludicrous suggestion that the withdrawal of the endorsement – ​​which, as we now know, also included pointed articles accurately criticizing Trump – was somehow related to the war in Gaza.

The Los Angeles Times has not publicly discussed this crisis for readers. TheWrap can confirm that at the time of writing, the outlet’s top editors, Terry Tang and Hector Becerra, have also not directly addressed staff members’ complaints and concerns.

To date, the Los Angeles Times Guild is the only institution within the newspaper to have publicly responded to the issue. “We are deeply concerned by our owner’s decision to block a planned endorsement in the presidential race,” the union said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are even more concerned that he is now unfairly blaming editorial board members for his decision not to approve.”

And on Thursday, the Guild reiterated that it remains “concerned” by Soon-Shiong’s actions and “calls for answers.” It also urged readers not to cancel their subscriptions, writing: “That subscription guarantees the salaries of hundreds of journalists in our newsroom. Our member journalists work every day to keep readers informed during these tumultuous times. A healthy democracy is an informed democracy.”

The Post LA Times Planned A ‘Case Against Trump’ Series Alongside Kamala Harris’ Endorsement Before Owner Squashed It | Exclusive first appeared on TheWrap.