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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Trump files $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times
By Brian Stelter, Hanna Park, CNN
Updated:
11:03 AM EDT, Tue September 16, 2025
Source: CNN
President Donald Trump says he is filing an audacious lawsuit against
The New York Times, alleging defamation and accusing the outlet of
being a “virtual mouthpiece” for the Democratic Party.
The lawsuit demands $15 billion in damages, which exceeds the entire
market cap of The New York Times Company, and claims Trump is leading
an effort to “restore integrity to journalism.”
The suit is the latest example of what First Amendment experts have
described as a presidential strategy to silence critical news coverage
and curb free speech by filing nuisance lawsuits.
While the Times immediately signaled that it would fight the suit, the
Committee to Protect Journalists observed that “these types of
defamation suits send a chilling message and can entangle news media in
time-consuming and costly legal processes.”
The defamation suit against The Times also names book publisher Penguin
Random House and four Times reporters, two of whom wrote a book for
Penguin, titled “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His
Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”
The 85-page suit reads at times like a pro-Trump op-ed, with page after
page of gushing praise for the president and repeated references to
lawsuits he has filed against other media outlets. Media lawyers
immediately expressed skepticism about Trump’s chances of prevailing.
“This lawsuit has no merit,” The Times said in a statement. “It
lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle
and discourage independent reporting. The New York Times will not be
deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts
without fear or favor.”
The president trumpeted the filing of the suit in a Truth Social post
late Monday night. He accused the Times — a publication that he both
covets and often criticizes — of making false statements about him,
his family and his businesses. He called the filing of the suit in
federal court in Tampa, Florida, a “great honor.”
CNN reviewed a copy of the lawsuit but could not immediately confirm
that it had been received by the court.
“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame
me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” he added, while singling
out the Times’ endorsement of Kamala Harris during the 2024
presidential election.
Endorsing someone else for president does not qualify as an act of
defamation, however, and Trump’s legal team will have a hard time
proving the charges leveled in the lawsuit.
To win a libel lawsuit, public figures like Trump must show “actual
malice,” meaning the defendants knew the statements were false or
acted with reckless disregard for their truth.
Media analysts have asserted that Trump’s real intent, with some of
his lawsuits, is to garner PR and publicly embarrass news outlets, with
winning or losing in court being a secondary consideration at best.
Floyd Abrams, one of the country’s most renowned First Amendment
attorneys in the past 50 years, told CNN that “the suit is ridiculous
as a matter of law but extraordinarily dangerous as a matter of
national policy.
“It threatens core First Amendment principles in a manner unique in
our history,” Abrams said.
The Times is certainly well-prepared for a legal tussle with Trump. The
publication has rebuffed his legal threats many times, including as
recently as last week. And Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has spent
the past year drawing attention to what he calls the “anti-press
playbook” being deployed by “aspiring strongmen” around the
world.
On Monday evening, a few hours before Trump announced the lawsuit,
Sulzberger said in a speech that part of the playbook is to “exploit
the civil courts to impose financial pressure” and “punish
independent journalists.”
Sulzberger addressed the Investigative Reporters & Editors’ 50th
anniversary gala in New York City and urged the other “media
leaders” in attendance to “stand up for your journalism. Stand up
for your journalists. Stand up for your rights.”
The president’s filing against The Times cited previous examples of
suits brought by Trump’s lawyers against Disney’s and Paramount
Global’s , which resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements by both
companies, much to the chagrin of other media outlets.
Journalism advocacy groups warned that by settling, rather than
defending themselves against Trump in court, ABC and CBS were
emboldening Trump to keep up his legal campaign.
Trump is also currently suing and reporters who wrote a story about a
collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein. A spokesperson for Dow
Jones, the Journal’s parent company, said “we have full confidence
in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend
against any lawsuit.”
The suit against The Times repeats the charge that the Journal
“falsely” claimed that Trump “authored, drew, and signed a card
to wish the late—and utterly disgraced—Epstein a happy fiftieth
birthday.”
The birthday letter in question was recently released by a House
committee, though Trump continues to claim it is a hoax. The Epstein
reference in this week’s new lawsuit might give the Times an opening
to question Trump about the matter if the case proceeds to the
deposition phase.
CNN’s Liam Reilly contributed reporting.
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