The American Bar Association (ABA) commissioned a report into Donald Trump baselessly suing people before refusing to publish it because they were afraid he would sue them, lawyers who worked on the document have claimed.

The report into Mr Trump’s litigation history, by a committee of media law experts, concluded he was a “libel bully” who had filed many meritless suits attacking his opponents, but had never won in court.

Instead of releasing the report, the organisation asked for changes to the title and tried to eliminate the conclusion that was "the point of the report", researchers told The New York Times.

In internal communications seen by the US newspaper — which has itself been threatened with legal action by the Republican presidential candidate — the organisation cited “the risk of the ABA being sued by Mr Trump” as a reason to make changes.

ABA leaders did not appear to dispute the actual conclusions of the report, but objected to some of the language used, including the key term "libel bully".

On 19 October, James Dimos, the association's deputy executive director, said in an email that changes were needed to address “the legitimately held views of ABA staff who are charged with managing the reputational and financial risk to the association”.

According to The New York Times he said: “While we do not believe that such a lawsuit has merit, it is certainly reasonable to attempt to reduce such a likelihood by removing inflammatory language that is unnecessary to further the article’s thesis.

“Honestly, it is the same advice members of the forum would provide to their own clients.”

Charles Tobin, a former chairman of the media-law committee, suggested the ABA's stance was hypocritical.

“It’s colossally inappropriate for the ABA to sponsor a group of lawyers to study free speech issues and at the same time censor their free speech,” he said.

ABA spokeswoman Carol Stevens denied that fear of a libel suit had played any role in the association's objections. She told The New York Times the ABA had only minor and routine objections to the article’s tone because the ABA was strictly non partisan — the report did not adhere to this policy.

“We thought it was an insightful article, and we asked them to consider minor edits,” she said.

But the media law committee said this was not accurate.

The article was titled: “Donald J Trump Is a Libel Bully but Also a Libel Loser”. The bar association proposed making a significant change and calling it: “Presidential Election Demonstrates Need for Anti-Slapp Laws," The New York Times reported

SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. In states with Anti-Slapp laws defendants can sometimes seek early dismissal of libel and similar suits, and recover their legal fees.

The media-law committee decided to bypass the ABA and on Friday, the Media Law Resource Centre, a trade association of law firms and media companies, published the report on its site.

Susan Seager, a former journalist and lawyer who has worked extensively on free speech cases, prepared the report. She said she did not think any of the claims made were libellous.

“It’s based on court records, all of it,” Ms Seager told The New York Times.

She found seven free speech-related lawsuits filed by Mr Trump and his companies. They included ones against an architecture critic and his newspaper; a book author and his publisher; a political commentator; a former student at Trump University; two labor unions; a network executive; and a beauty contest contestant.

The report concluded that Mr. Trump had lost four suits, withdrawn two and obtained one default judgment in a private arbitration when a former Miss Pennsylvania failed to appear to contest the matter.

“Donald J. Trump is a libel bully,” the report concluded.

“Like most bullies, he’s also a loser, to borrow from Trump’s vocabulary.”

The bar association sought to remove that conclusion, which Ms. Seager said was the point of her report.

“I wanted to alert media lawyers that a lot of these threats are very hollow,” she said.

Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Show all 16 1 /16 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump E Jean Carroll Author Carroll alleges that Trump pinned her against a wall and forced himself upon her in the changing rooms of a Manhattan department store in the mid-90s Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Kristin Anderson Anderson alleges that Mr Trump touched her genitals while at a club in the early 1990s Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jessica Leeds Leeds told the New York Times that Mr Trump groped her on an airplane in the 1980s BBC Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Natasha Stoynoff Stoynoff alleged that Mr Trump forcefully kissed her before an interview at his Mar-A-Lago estate in 2005 Everipedia Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Karena Virginia Virginia alleges Mr Trump groped her in 1998 outside of the US Open tennis tournament BBC News Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Temple Taggart Taggart claims Mr Trump gave her a kiss without consent during a rehearsal for a 1997 Miss USA pageant Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Summer Zervos The former Apprentice contestant alleged that Mr Trump kissed and groped her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Alva Johnson A former staffer for Trump's campaign, Johnson alleges that Trump forcibly tried to kiss her after a rally in August 2016 MSNBC Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jennifer Murphy The former Apprentice contestant said Mr Trump "surprise kissed" her - but she said it did not bother her Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jill Harth The makeup artist accused Mr Trump of "attempted rape" while in his daughter's room in 1997 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Mindy McGillivray McGillivray alleges Mr Trump groped her at Mar-A-Lago in 2013 AP Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Rachel Crooks Crooks says that kissed her on the cheeks and mouth when she introduced herself to him in 2005 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Mindy McGillivray McGillivray claims that Trump grabbed her backside at Mar-a-Lago in 2006 CNN Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Cassandra Searles The former Miss Washington alleges that Trump repeatedly grabbed her backside and invited her to his hotel room Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jessica Drake Drake claims that when she and two other women arrived to Trump's hotel room at his invitation, he arrived at the door in pyjamas and tightly hugged and kissed each of the woman without permission Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Ninni Laaksonen The former Miss Finland claims that Trump squeezed her behind before they appeared together on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2006 EPA

On Saturday, Mr Trump caused outrage by threatening to sue the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. He also threatened to sue The New York Times for publishing their allegations, as well as his his tax returns.

Ms Seager said the bar association’s behaviour showed that Mr Trump’s threats work.

“The ABA took out every word that was slightly critical of Donald Trump,” she said.