NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and four of its journalists.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Florida, names several articles and one book written by two of the publication's journalists and published in the leadup to the 2024 election, saying they are “part of a decades-long pattern by The New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump.”
“Defendants published such statements negligently, with knowledge of the falsity of the statements, and/or with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity," the lawsuit says.
Times spokesman Charles Stadtlander said Tuesday the lawsuit “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.” Similarly, Penguin Random House, publishers of the book named in Trump's case, called it a “meritless lawsuit.”
In a Truth Social post announcing the lawsuit, Trump accused The New York Times of lying about him and defaming him, saying it has become “a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party.”
Trump, a Republican, has gone after other media outlets, including filing a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch in July after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.