Trump announces $15 billion lawsuit against New York Times
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President Donald Trump is bringing a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the paper of being a virtual “mouthpiece” for the Democratic Party and making an illegal “campaign contribution” in 2024 to opponent Kamala Harris.
Trump announced the lawsuit late Monday on Truth Social and said it would be brought in Florida. This marks yet another legal action taken by the president against a major media organization after forcing settlements with ABC News and CBS News over the past year.
“Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party. I view it as the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER,” he wrote. “Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!”
Trump accused the Times of engaging in a decadeslong campaign of “lying” about him, his business, family, and the MAGA movement.
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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“I am PROUD to hold this once respected ‘rag’ responsible, as we are doing with the Fake News Networks such as our successful litigation against George Slopadopoulos/ABC/Disney, and 60 Minutes/CBS/Paramount, who knew that they were falsely ‘smearing’ me through a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration, which was, in effect, a malicious form of defamation, and thus, settled for record amounts. They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal. The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW! The suit is being brought in the Great State of Florida. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
In the lawsuit, Trump said he had to overcome “persistent election interference from the legacy media,” that was led by the Times.
“All across our country, Americans from a wide array of backgrounds saw the truth about him and voted accordingly—the same truth that the New York Times refused to recognize as it continued spreading false and defamatory content about President Trump,” the suit states.
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The New York Times building in New York City. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Florida’s Middle District. The named defendants are the New York Times Company, reporters Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, Peter Baker and Michael S. Schmidt, and Penguin Random House, which published “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success,” which was authored by Craig and Buettner.
The New York Times endorsed Harris in 2024, no surprise in that its editorial board leans sharply to the left and has not endorsed a Republican for the White House since 1956. In its explanation, the board began by panning Trump as dangerously unfit rather than praising Harris.
“It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest,” the board wrote.
The 85-page lawsuit called the endorsement “deranged” and also said “Lucky Loser” was a false and defamatory book. In 2023, a judge dismissed a lawsuit that he brought against the New York Times in 2021 for its prior reporting on his finances and claims he’d engaged in suspect tax maneuvers.
President Donald Trump calls on a reporter during a news conference on crime in the nation’s capital at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. ( Eric Lee/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The lawsuit saluted Trump’s “decades of magnificent real estate achievements” and called him a television trailblazer for his work on “The Apprentice.”
“Thanks solely to President Trump’s sui generis charisma and unique business acumen, ‘The Apprentice’ generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, and remained on television for over thirteen years, with nearly 200 episodes. ‘The Apprentice’ represented the cultural magnitude of President Trump’s singular brilliance, which captured the zeitgeist of our time.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and New York Times for comment.
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, whose liberal editorial boards were set to endorse Harris last year, ultimately didn’t offer endorsements after being overruled by their respective billionaire owners. The moves infuriated progressive staffers and prompted resignations and subscriber losses.
Trump has already secured eight-figure settlements over suits he filed against ABC News and CBS News over the past year.
President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against The New York Times marks yet another massive legal action taken against a news outlet. (Getty Images / iStock)
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ABC agreed to pay $15 million last December as a charitable contribution to a future presidential museum or foundation to settle Trump’s defamation lawsuit. The suit was prompted by anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly saying Trump had been held liable for rape on the air, rather than sexual abuse.
Trump also launched an “election interference” lawsuit against CBS over its “60 Minutes” interview of Harris last year, saying its editing decisions amounted to deceiving the public. Ahead of a planned $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, CBS parent company Paramount settled the lawsuit in July to a total that could be upwards of $30 million.
Both settlements brought howls of outrage from liberals and free speech proponents who said corporate media owners had capitulated to frivolous suits, while Trump’s supporters said he was finally bringing liberal media outlets to heel.
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