Trump Threatens $15B Suit Against New York Times Over Alleged Defamation And Bias: ‘That Stops, NOW!’

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will sue The New York Times, the nation's second-largest newspaper, accusing it of serving the Democratic Party and publishing false and defamatory reports about him.

“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,” he posted on Truth Social late Monday.

"The ‘Times' has engaged in a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole," Trump added in the long post.

The publication "has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!" he said, adding that he plans to file the suit in Florida.

He cited The Times' front-page "Endorsement of Kamala Harris," without specifying the article or providing examples of other coverage he considers biased.

The proposed action is Trump’s latest escalation against news media firms he views as hostile. He recently won millions of dollars worth of settlements from Paramount and Walt Disney over reporting from their news networks.

In July, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit over the editing of a CBS "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris, who was then the Vice President and a candidate for the presidency.

Earlier, in December 2024, Trump reached a settlement with Disney's ABC, which agreed to give $15 million to Trump's future presidential foundation or museum. The case stemmed from allegations that one of the network's anchors had defamed the president-elect while characterizing a past court verdict against him.

Referring to those decisions, Trump said the networks "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."

The damages Trump is seeking from The Times are higher than the company's market cap, which was about $9.7 billion as of Monday. The newspaper hasn't posted a response yet to Trump's allegations.

Trump’s clashes with The Times date back to his first term as president. In 2018, he dismissed a Times investigation into his and his family’s use of questionable tax schemes and the origins of his wealth, calling it an “old, boring and often told hit piece.” The Times defended its reporting as “fair and accurate.” Trump’s 2016 election, interestingly enough, also fueled a surge in digital subscriptions for the Times that lasted at least two years.

As of early Tuesday, the retail sentiment for the NYT stock, which has gained 12.5% year-to-date, was 'extremely bullish.'

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