Trump Files $15 Billion Defamation and Libel Lawsuit Against the New York Times

Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times for defamation and libel, alleging the publication caused him reputational damage.

According to Reuters, the president sued the New York Times, four of its reporters and publisher Penguin Random House in documents filed on Monday in a U.S. district court in Florida. Reuters reports that Trump cites a series of New York Times articles in the suit, including an editorial from before the 2024 election that said he was unfit for the presidency, as well as a book Penguin published last year with the title “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success,” written by two Times investigative reporters.

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“Defendants maliciously published the Book and the Articles knowing that these publications were filled with repugnant distortions and fabrications about President Trump,” the filing states, according to Reuters.

“This lawsuit has no merit,” a spokesperson for the New York Times told Variety on Tuesday morning. “It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting. The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.”

Penguin did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

The president took to Truth Social Monday night to announce the move.

“Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party,” he wrote. “I view it as the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER. Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!”

Trump went on to accuse the Times of lying for “decades” about himself, his “family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA and our Nation as a whole.” He also boasted about his “successful” lawsuits against “60 Minutes” and ABC, which he claimed “knew they were falsely ‘smearing’ me through a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration.”

He concluded, “The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW! The suit is being brought in the Great State of Florida. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

As noted by the president, this is not the first time he’s gone after a major news organization in court. In July, Paramount paid a $16 million settlement to the Trump administration for a lawsuit against “60 Minutes” as its $8 billion merger was awaiting final approval from the FCC. The media giant had previously slammed the litigation as “meritless.”

Disney was also forced to kowtow to Trump to the tune of $15 million back in December. The settlement was over a lawsuit against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos after he falsely asserted on air that Trump had been found liable in a court case for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

In July, Trump filed a $20 billion suit against Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal reporters for a story that claimed the president wrote a birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that contained suggestive language and imagery. He slammed the article as “false, malicious” and “defamatory.”

This also isn’t the first time the Times has been in legal hot water with the president. Trump threatened to sue the news organization over their reports on the U.S. bombing raids on Iran, which came in contrast to the Trump administration’s early assessment that Iran’s nuclear capabilities were “totally obliterated.”