Accusing The New York Times of blatant political bias, President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against the newspaper on Monday in federal court in Tampa, Florida, alleging defamation and libel and seeking $15 billion in damages for alleged false statements about him, his family, and his businesses.
Using his Truth Social platform, Trump accused the newspaper of being a “virtual mouthpiece for the Radical Left Democratic Party,” without providing specifics about the alleged falsehoods.
He claimed that the need to “restore integrity to journalism” was the driving force behind the action, which sought damages exceeding The New York Times Company’s entire market capitalization.
“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” declared Trump.
Additionally, he took issue with the publication’s support of Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
But according to analysts, it was just another example of a tactic that uses dubious legality litigation to silence critics and stifle free expression.
Defamation and libel accusations are exceedingly difficult to make stick in court because of the burden of proving “actual malice”—showing the defendant was aware the comments were inaccurate or was irresponsible with regard to their veracity.
Endorsing a candidate running for political office is not defamatory.
The action was taken two months after Trump sued the Wall Street Journal over a letter he allegedly wrote to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which featured the outline of a nude woman with text printed above his purported signature.
A week earlier, Trump had threatened to sue The New York Times for stories it published about the same letter.
Written on Epstein’s fiftieth birthday in 2003, the memo was written before Epstein’s conviction.
After Trump secured multi-million dollar settlements from ABC News and CBS News in December and July, respectively, media trade associations cautioned that choosing to reach an out-of-court settlement was just supporting Trump’s “lawfare.”
Before the most recent lawsuit was filed, NYT publisher A. G. Sulzberger spoke at the Reporters & Editors 50th anniversary dinner in New York on Monday.
He spoke about the rising “anti-press playbook” trend of “aspiring strongmen” around the world using civil law to put financial pressure on the media.
