Donald Trump slaps $15bn defamation lawsuit against New York Times

Donald Trump has initiated a $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times, continuing his strategy of pursuing major media outlets through legal action.

The U.S. president alleged that the paper acted as a mouthpiece for Democrats and published false, damaging material about him.

This move followed a warning last week from the White House that legal steps might be taken against the NYT over its coverage of a crude birthday message linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The note, which carries Trump’s signature alongside an obscene sketch, has been reported on by several outlets. Trump has repeatedly denied writing it.

In July, he filed a similar lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, after the Journal first revealed the note’s existence. Despite its subsequent publication, Trump has continued to reject any suggestion that he authored it, The Guardian reported.

Trump’s lawyers filed the case against the New York Times in a Florida district court on Monday night, marking another instance of the president turning to the courts in disputes with the press.

The complaint cites multiple articles and a book authored by two Times journalists in the run-up to the 2024 election. In the filing, the newspaper is accused of abandoning its stated commitment to honesty and objectivity, and of serving as a prominent source of falsehoods targeting Trump.

The lawsuit also alleges that the newspaper and other established media outlets acted with the aim of influencing elections, noting in particular the paper’s endorsement of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris during the previous presidential campaign. The NYT has not issued a response so far.

The New York Times had endorsed Kamala Harris while a number of other leading outlets chose not to back any candidate in that election. The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, was among those that withheld an endorsement. That decision drew criticism from observers who saw it as an attempt to placate Trump and also triggered pushback from both subscribers and staff at the paper.

The action against the NYT is part of a broader pattern of multibillion-dollar lawsuits Trump has filed against U.S. media organisations since returning to office. Previous cases have targeted ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos, as well as Paramount over its 60 Minutes interview with Harris. Those disputes ended in settlements of $15 million and $16 million respectively. His lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal is ongoing.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump denounced the NYT as “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party”.

“I view it as the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER,” he said, though he did not provide any evidence for the claim. “Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!

“The ‘Times’ has engaged in a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole.”

The lawsuit highlights New York Times coverage based on Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, a book authored by reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner.

Among the cited pieces is one article released shortly before the November election, which the filing characterises as an election-interfering salvo. Trump’s legal team argues the reporting reflects a broader pattern of deliberate and malicious defamation, and is seeking damages of at least $15 billion.

This is not the first time Trump has pursued legal action against the NYT. A previous libel claim, tied to an opinion column about Russian interference in the 2016 election, was dismissed on free speech grounds.

He also sued the paper and his estranged niece over a 2018 investigation into his family’s finances and taxes, calling it a scheme to improperly obtain his records, but that case was thrown out by a New York judge in 2023.