Trump Refiles $15 Billion Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times
President Donald Trump has refiled his massive $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times, after a federal judge dismissed the earlier version for being excessively long.
The updated complaint, now properly formatted, was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. It accuses The New York Times of defamation based on two articles released in 2024, as well as a book written by two of the paper’s journalists the previous year. Trump is seeking $15 billion in damages, along with additional punitive compensation.
“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 spokesman for Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital.
The lawsuit lists The New York Times Company, journalists Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, Peter Baker, and Michael S. Schmidt, as well as Penguin Random House, as defendants. Penguin Random House is the publisher of Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, written by Craig and Buettner.
A spokesperson for The New York Times told Fox News Digital, “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 PR attention, but The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.”
Last month, the presiding judge instructed Trump’s legal team to revise and condense the original 85-page document into a shorter version not exceeding 40 pages, allowing them 28 days to do so. The new filing meets that requirement.
The updated complaint centers on allegations of defamation related to The Times’ coverage of Trump’s time as host of The Apprentice and its reporting on alleged questionable tax practices.
This case is one of several defamation lawsuits Trump has brought against major media organizations, including ABC News, CBS News, and The Wall Street Journal. Over the past year, Trump has reached significant settlements with both ABC and CBS.
In December, ABC resolved its case by contributing $15 million to a future presidential museum or foundation and covering $1 million in legal fees.
Trump also filed an “election interference” suit against CBS over its 60 Minutes interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, arguing that the network’s editing misled viewers. As CBS’s parent company, Paramount, prepared for an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, it agreed in July to settle the dispute for a figure reportedly approaching $30 million.
{Matzav.com}
