President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the newspaper of publishing false statements about his business career. The suit, filed on Thursday in Florida federal court, follows the dismissal of a similar case last month. It targets two September 2024 articles and a book alleging fraudulent dealings with his father.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump initiated a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. This action comes shortly after a similar suit was dismissed last month by Judge Steven Merryday, who criticized it as an improper platform for political rhetoric.
The new complaint alleges that the Times published false and defamatory statements damaging Trump's professional reputation, built over decades as a businessman and star of 'The Apprentice.' It names reporters Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, and Peter Baker as defendants, along with Penguin Random House, publisher of the book 'Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.' The suit focuses on two Times articles from September 2024 that claimed Trump received millions from his father through 'fraudulent tax evasion schemes' and 'taxable gifts masquerading as loans, a likely tax fraud that went unnoticed.'
According to the lawsuit, these statements have harmed Trump's business interests, including his social media platform Truth Social. 'The statements in question wrongly defame and disparage President Trump’s hard-earned professional reputation,' the suit states. It further argues: 'Statements falsely casting aspersions on President Trump’s reputation as a businessman or the Trump Organization’s legitimacy therefore cause direct and easily foreseeable harm to these businesses’ value, revenue, and profitability.'
The previous lawsuit, filed last month, accused the Times and its reporters of making defamatory claims to interfere in the 2024 election. Judge Merryday dismissed it, remarking: 'A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner.'
Trump has had success in other defamation cases, winning millions against ABC News and CBS/Paramount. He is also pursuing a suit against The Wall Street Journal over an article about a birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein.