The US President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the newspaper of a decades-long “campaign of lies” against him.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Florida, specifically targets a book and several articles published by the Times during the most recent presidential campaign. The legal complaint claims these publications were “carefully crafted with actual malice” to inflict maximum damage on his reputation. It names not only The New York Times company but also four of its reporters and the book’s publisher, Penguin Random House, as defendants.
On his social media platform, Trump called the lawsuit a “Great Honor,” describing the Times as a “degenerate newspaper” and a “virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party.” He also specifically cited the paper’s endorsement of his political rival during the campaign as “the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER.”
In response, The New York Times issued a statement dismissing the lawsuit as “meritless.” A spokesperson for the newspaper stated that the suit “lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting.” The Times has affirmed it will “not be deterred by intimidation tactics” and will continue to pursue facts “without fear or favor.”
This legal action is the latest in a series of lawsuits Trump has filed against major American media outlets since his return to office. He has previously sued ABC News and Paramount Global (the parent company of CBS), with both cases ending in multi-million dollar settlements that were directed toward his future presidential library.
“The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics,” the spokesperson added.
Trump said that his lawsuit was being launched in Florida, a Republican stronghold.
He has long expressed displeasure at what he bills left-leaning media outlets unfavourable to his presidency.
In a post late on Monday, Trump took issue at the Times’ endorsement of his election rival, saying: “Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!”
In the post he also accused other media outlets or TV programmes of “smearing” him through “a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration”.
ABC News and Paramount’s CBS News both agreed to multimillion-dollar payouts to Trump to settle lawsuits brought by the president in recent months.
He has also launched a case against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on the Epstein scandal.
This is not the first time Trump has sought to sue the New York Times.
In 2023, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by him, then an ex-president, against the New York Times, saying the claims in the lawsuit “fail as a matter of constitutional law”.
The $100m (£79m) lawsuit accused the newspaper and Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, of “an insidious plot” to obtain his tax records.
It was filed in 2021 and relates to a Pulitzer Prize-winning series on Trump’s financial affairs.
Trump also lost another defamation bid in 2023, when he sought in vain to sue CNN for allegedly likening him to Adolf Hitler. A federal judge later threw out the $475m (£369m) lawsuit.
Clarification: This story has been updated to include the lawsuits against ABC News and Paramount which ended with settlements in Trump’s favour.
