US President, Donald Trump, has declared plans to sue the New York Times for $15 billion (£11 billion), accusing the newspaper of defamation and libel.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump stated, “The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!”
He criticized the Times for endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, describing the paper as a “mouthpiece for the Radical Left Democrat Party.”
Trump revealed that the lawsuit would be filed in Florida, a Republican-leaning state. The BBC has contacted the New York Times for comment.
Trump has frequently voiced frustration with media outlets he perceives as left-leaning and hostile toward his presidency.
In another post, he highlighted the Times’ endorsement of Harris, pointing out that it was featured prominently on the front page, a move he called “heretofore UNHEARD OF!”
Trump also accused other media organizations, including ABC News and CBS News, of using “a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration” to smear him.
Notably, both ABC and CBS recently settled lawsuits with Trump for multimillion-dollar sums.
In addition, Trump is pursuing legal action against the Wall Street Journal over its coverage of the Epstein scandal.
This is not Trump’s first legal confrontation with the New York Times. In 2023, a federal judge dismissed a $100 million lawsuit Trump filed against the paper and his estranged niece Mary Trump.
That case, originating in 2021, alleged a conspiracy to obtain his tax records and was linked to a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into his finances.
Trump also lost a separate $475 million defamation suit against CNN in 2023, which accused the network of unfairly comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
