President Donald Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times on Friday, naming several of the paper’s reporters and alleging the outlet has engaged in persistent election interference through biased coverage. The complaint, filed in Florida, does not identify a single specific error or allegedly false article as the basis for the claim.
The suit singles out Times journalists including chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and investigative reporter Michael Schmidt, as well as Susanne Craig and Ross Buettner, who contributed reporting and to a book that examined Mr. Trump’s finances. In response, The New York Times said the lawsuit “has no merit,” calling it an attempt to stifle independent reporting.
On the social media platform Truth Social, Mr. Trump described the Times as “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country,” accused it of acting as a “virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party,” and characterized its coverage as an illegal campaign contribution. The complaint asserts that the paper has “engaged in a decades long method of lying” about Mr. Trump, his family, his businesses and his political movement.
Legal experts say defamation claims by public figures face a high bar under First Amendment jurisprudence. Since the landmark Supreme Court ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, a public-figure plaintiff must prove that a publisher acted with “actual malice” — knowingly publishing false information or showing reckless disregard for the truth — to prevail in a libel suit.
The Times has won journalism awards, including Pulitzers for coverage of Mr. Trump’s finances; Susanne Craig and her colleagues’ reporting drew particular scrutiny for its revelations about the former president’s tax records. The lawsuit also references a book by Craig and Buettner, "Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success."
Mr. Trump has a long history of litigating against news organizations. He sued the Chicago Tribune critic Paul Gapp in the 1980s over criticism of a proposed building project and has brought recent suits or claims against broadcast networks and other publications. Some cases have been dismissed; others have been settled. ABC and CBS affiliates previously settled lawsuits related to Trump coverage, each agreeing to pay $16 million in disputes that involved contested broadcast segments or statements.
Attorneys and media analysts note that even when such suits are unlikely to succeed on the merits, the act of filing litigation can impose substantial legal costs on newsrooms and deter reporting. The Times described the current complaint as lacking “any legitimate legal claims” and said it represented an effort to discourage independent journalism.
The suit was filed in state court in Florida, where Mr. Trump has been based since leaving the White House, and seeks $15 billion in damages. It claims that the Times’ coverage has amounted to unlawful election interference and biased reporting that damaged Mr. Trump’s reputation and political efforts; it does not itemize particular articles or statements that it says are false.
Observers point to a decades-long, often adversarial relationship between Mr. Trump and The New York Times. While the paper profiled the developer early in his career, coverage shifted sharply as he entered politics and later won the presidency, producing investigative reporting and opinion that Mr. Trump has frequently criticized.
The New York Times’ published statement called the lawsuit without merit and asserted that the complaint lacked legitimate legal claims. The filing sets the stage for a potential protracted legal battle over the balance between reputational claims and constitutional protections for robust, and sometimes adversarial, press coverage. Courts will ultimately decide whether the complaint meets the strict standard required for defamation claims brought by public figures.