In a typically bizarre post to social media, the president downplayed his broad unpopularity, suggesting that outlets critical of his policies are “lying” about his troubled past.
In a drastic escalation of his war against the mainstream media, U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and several of its most prominent journalists.
According to National Public Radio, Trump’s lawsuit claims that the Times defamed him by publishing reports that the president’s personal fortune and business reputation are, at least in part, products of longstanding and far-reaching fraud.
Furthermore, aside from these allegations, the lawsuit also rails against the Times’ decision to publish an interview with retired U.S. Army Gen. John F. Kelly, who served as the president’s chief-of-staff during his first term in office. In the interview, published in the prelude to the 2024 general election, Kelly shared his belief that President Donald Trump’s actions, policies, and practices meet the conventional definition of “fascism.”
“Today, the Times is a full-throated mouthpiece of the Democrat Party,” Trump’s legal team wrote in the lawsuit.
Not surprisingly, the New York Times was quick to criticize the president’s stance on the free press, characterizing the lawsuit as yet another attempt by the Trump administration to enforce censorship and suppress dissent.
“It lacks any legitimate legal claims and is instead an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” a spokesperson for the Times said in a statement. “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.”
Unlike other recent, Trump-related cases, the lawsuit against the Times lists Donald Trump as a plaintiff in his capacity as a private citizen, rather than as the president of the United States.
In a typically bizarre post to social media, the president downplayed his broad unpopularity, suggesting that outlets critical of his policies are “lying” about his troubled past.
“The ‘Times’ has engaged in a decades long [sic] method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am PROUD to hold this once respected [sic] ‘rag’ responsible, as we are doing with the Fake News Networks such as our successful litigation against George Slopadopoulos/ABC/Disney, and 60 Minutes/CBS/Paramount.”
Notably, the litigation referenced in this post—particularly against Paramount and its affiliates—was criticized across the Left, with political leaders like Bernie Sanders positing Paramount’s decision to settle legally-tenuous claims as blatant bribery.
Trump, though, has always taken a difference stance.
“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” Trump wrote.
In his lawsuit, Trump expressed his anger that the Times had endorsed his opponent in the 2024 general election, former prosecutor and Vice President Kamala Harris, over him.
Trump is currently litigating an unrelated claim against the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, which recently published a collection of letters penned by Trump to the late billionaire and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Before the collection’s publication, Trump had previously claimed that these letters either did not exist or were not written by him and were, instead, a fabrication of his political opponents.
Sources
Trump files $15 billion defamation lawsuit against ‘New York Times’
Trump files $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times
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