Trump sues New York Times for $15 billion for alleged

President Trump is suing The New York Times for $15 billion for what he says in a post on his Truth Social platform is a yearslong pattern of “defamation and libel” by the paper against him.

Mr. Trump claims in the post that the Times “has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW” and accuses the Times of “becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party.”

He says the Times “has engaged in a decades long method of lying” about him, his family and the Trump Organization as well as “the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole.”

In a statement, the Times said the lawsuit has “no merit” and said it “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,” a Times spokesperson said. “We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.”

Specifically, the 85-page lawsuit cites a book written by two Times reporters and three articles, all published during the 2024 presidential campaign.

According to the suit, all were “carefully crafted … with actual malice, calculated to inflict maximum damage upon President Trump, and all published during the height of a Presidential Election.”   

Defendants include the Times, reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner, who wrote the book, and reporters Peter Baker and Michael Schmidt, who wrote the articles, along with Penguin Random House, the book’s publisher.

“Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success,” published in September 2024, was “false, malicious, and defamatory,” the suit asserts.

The suit goes on to cite a Times article by Craig and Buettner previewing the book, and articles by Baker and Schmidt.

It also mentions the Times’ endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, an endorsement the suit calls “deranged.” The Truth Social post says it was “actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!”

The suit brings up settlements of other recent legal actions involving CBS News and Paramount, as well as ABC News.

Mr. Trump also sued The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion in July over a story on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

CBS News has reached out to the Times and Penguin for comment.  

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida.