Trump refiles $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times
President Donald Trump has refiled his $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. It accuses the publication and its reporters of seeking to undermine his 2024 candidacy and disparage his reputation as a businessman.
The refiling comes after a judge dismissed a similar filing last month. He ruled it was “tedious and burdensome” and padded with “florid and enervating” language praising Trump’s achievements. The judge said a lawsuit is not “a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”
Following the ruling, the judge gave Trump’s lawyers 28 days to refile the suit, saying the amended complaint could be no longer than 40 pages long and must “accord with the rules of procedure.”
Trump’s original complaint was 85 pages.
Following the refiling, a spokeswoman for The Times issued the following statement:
“As we said when this was first filed and again after the judge’s ruling to strike it: This lawsuit has no merit. Nothing has changed today. This is merely an attempt to stifle independent reporting and generate P.R. attention, but The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.”
What the new filing says
While the new complaint is much shorter, at 40 pages, it contains the same arguments as the original. It lists the New York Times Co., reporters Susanne Craig, Russ Ruettner and Peter Baker, and Penguin Random House as defendants. New York Times investigative reporter Michael S. Schmidt, who was named as a defendant in the original suit, is not listed in the new one.
Trump accuses the reporters and publication of distributing defamatory statements about him “with actual malice.” In a landmark 1964 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that to win defamation cases against the press, public figures must prove not only that statements were false but that they were published with “reckless disregard” of whether they were true. No president has filed and won a defamation case in more than 100 years.
Trump’s lawsuit reads in part:
“The statements in question wrongly defame and disparage President Trump’s hard-earned professional reputation, which he painstakingly built for decades as a private citizen before becoming President of the United States, including as a successful businessman and as star of the most successful reality television show of all-time — The Apprentice.”
What Trump is seeking
Trump is seeking compensatory damages of at least $15 billion, in addition to punitive damages to be determined at trial.
The lawsuit also seeks a “retraction of the defamatory publications and statements” from The Times and Penguin Random House, which published a book on Trump’s business interests by two of the Times reporters.
“President Trump is continuing to hold the Fake News responsible through this powerhouse lawsuit against The New York Times, its reporters and Penguin Random House,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said.
Other lawsuits
Trump also has a pending $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal. He alleges he was defamed by an article about a birthday letter that Trump reportedly sent to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.
The Journal recently asked a judge to dismiss the suit.
Late last year, Trump settled a defamation suit against ABC News, which agreed to donate $15 million to his future presidential library. Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay Trump $16 million earlier this year to settle a lawsuit over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
