Washington, September 16: US President Donald Trump has announced a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the newspaper of waging a “decades-long campaign of lies” against him, his family, his businesses, and his political movement.
In a statement on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump branded the publication “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the history of our country,” alleging it had become a “virtual mouthpiece for the radical Left Democrat Party.”
Trump also attacked the newspaper for endorsing his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming that its prominent placement on the front page amounted to “the single largest illegal campaign contribution ever.”
“The ‘Times’ has engaged in a decades-long method of lying about your favourite President (me!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our nation as a whole,” Trump wrote. He asserted that the lawsuit, filed in Florida, was intended to put an end to the paper’s alleged smear campaigns.
The lawsuit comes amid Trump’s broader legal battles with major US media outlets. He cited earlier cases against ABC, Disney, CBS, and Paramount, which, according to him, ended in settlements worth millions. ABC, for instance, reportedly settled by donating $15 million to the planned Trump Library, while Paramount agreed to pay $16 million over a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris.
Trump insisted the Times’ reporting practices were “both unacceptable and illegal,” vowing that its freedom to “lie, smear, and defame” him would no longer continue.
