U.S. President Donald Trump has initiated a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and four of its journalists, seeking $15 billion in damages. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Florida, targets multiple articles and a book authored by two of the journalists in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Trump alleges that these publications are part of a long-standing trend of deliberate and harmful defamation by The New York Times against him.
According to court documents, the lawsuit claims that the defendants published false statements either negligently, knowing their falsehood, or recklessly disregarding the truth. The New York Times has not yet responded to requests for comment as of early Tuesday.
In a post on Truth Social announcing the legal action, Trump asserted that The New York Times has spread lies and defamatory content about him, portraying itself as a propaganda tool for the Radical Left Democrat Party.
This lawsuit follows Trump’s previous legal actions against media entities, such as a $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed in July against The Wall Street Journal and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. This suit was prompted by a story in the newspaper linking Trump to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.