Donald Trump has filed a $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times in his latest use of legal action targeting a major media outlet.
The US president accused it of being a “mouthpiece” for the Democratic party and of “spreading false and defamatory content” about him.
The New York Times said last week that it had been threatened with legal action by the White House after articles about a crude birthday note given to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The note bears Trump’s signature but the president has denied being its author.
In July Trump launched legal action against another big US paper, the Wall Street Journal, and its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, after it first reported on the existence of the note, which also featured a lewd drawing. The note has since been published but Trump continues to deny being its author.
The filing against the NYT, the latest demonstration of the president’s willingness to use legal action against the media, was made by Trump’s lawyers to a district court in Florida on Monday night.
It names several articles and one book written by two of the publication’s journalists and published in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
“The Times has betrayed the journalistic ideals of honesty, objectivity, and accuracy that it once professed,” it states, also accusing the NYT of being “a leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods against President Trump”.
A spokesperson for the NYT said: “This lawsuit has no merit. 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 favour and stand up for journalists’ first amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.”
The suit makes a series of verbose claims about Trump’s achievements, wealth and skill on the television show The Apprentice. It claims he secured “the greatest personal and political achievement in American history” with his election win, while accusing the NYT of trying to damage his “worldwide reputation for success”.
It states The Apprentice was a success because of “President Trump’s sui generis charisma and unique business acumen”. It describes his father, Fred C Trump, as “a legendary businessman and a patriot”.
“Thereafter, President Trump’s stewardship of the Trump Organization has made it and the Trump name synonymous not only with New York City real estate but also with worldwide excellence, luxury, and opulence,” it states, taking issue with the NYT’s reporting of his business dealings.
The suit accuses the NYT, as well as other “legacy media” regarded as opponents, of engaging in election interference. It points to the paper’s decision to endorse the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the last presidential race.
The NYT made the endorsement while other major outlets took the unusual move of refusing to endorse a candidate in the race. The Washington Post, owned by the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, opted against endorsing a candidate. That decision was criticised by some as an attempt to appease Trump and led to a backlash among subscribers and Post employees.
The case against the NYT is just the latest of several multibillion-dollar lawsuits Trump has launched against US media outlets since his return to the White House.
Lawsuits have been brought against ABC News and the anchor George Stephanopoulos, as well as Paramount over its 60 Minutes interview with Harris. Those cases were settled for $15m and $16m respectively. The case 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 cites articles in the NYT based on Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, a book by the reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner.
“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. Penguin Random House, the publisher of the book, which is also being sued as part of the action, has not yet commented on the suit.
Articles in the NYT to be cited in the filing include one published before the November election, which was described as an “election-interfering salvo”. The suit says the articles were part of a long-term pattern of “intentional and malicious defamation”. It seeks damages of “not less than $15bn”.
Trump’s team has previously filed a libel suit against the NYT in relation to an opinion article concerning Russian interference in the 2016 US election. It was dismissed on the grounds of “protected speech”.
Trump also has sued the newspaper and his estranged niece over a 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax arrangements, describing it as an “insidious plot” to obtain his records. A New York judge threw out the case in 2023.