WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump sued the New York Times, four of its reporters and publisher Penguin Random House for at least $15 billion, claiming defamation and libel and citing reputational damage, a Florida court filing showed. Trump has gone after major media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and Paramount, in his second term for what he describes as false or misleading coverage and has sought billions of dollars in damages from them.
Monday’s suit cites a series of New York Times articles, one an editorial prior to the 2024 presidential election, which said he was unfit for office, and a 2024 book published by Penguin titled “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success”. “Defendants maliciously published the Book and the Articles knowing that these publications were filled with repugnant distortions and fabrications about President Trump,” according to the filing lodged on Monday in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Trump also sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, earlier this year for at least $10 billion over the newspaper’s report that his name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Jeffrey Epstein and a reference to secrets they shared.
In July, CBS parent company Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump alleging that the CBS news programme “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that the network broadcast in October.
Trump’s lawyers said in the filing on Monday that the New York Times had harmed Trump’s business and personal reputation, thereby causing massive economic damage to his brand value and significant damage to his future financial prospects. “The harm to the value of TMTG (Trump Media and Technology Group) stock is one example of how the Defendants’ defamation has injured President Trump,” said his lawyers, citing “a precipitous decline in the stock price.” TMTG stock has been under pressure in recent months, fueled by worries about the end of a so-called lock-up period related to its stock market debut in March.
“This lawsuit has no merit. It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” a spokesperson for the NYT said. — Reuters
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