Trump announced the lawsuit in a post on his Truth Social account late Monday night, calling the New York Times a “mouthpiece” for the “radical Left Democratic Party.”

“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,” Trump posted. “I view it as the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER. Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!” 

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The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Tampa, Florida, CNN reported. It accused the New York Times of engaging in “false, malicious, defamatory, and disparaging” reporting detrimental to Trump and his presidency.

“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 said in his post. “I am PROUD to hold this once respected ‘rag’ responsible, as we are doing with the Fake News Networks such as our successful litigation against George Slopadopoulos/ABC/Disney, and 60 Minutes/CBS/Paramount, who 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.”

“They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal,” Trump said. “The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!”

As mentioned in the social media post, it is not the first time Trump has sued a news company. Previously, Trump sued ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos for comments he made in an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), claiming that Trump had been found liable for rape. Trump reached a settlement deal in December 2024 with the network and anchor in which they agreed to pay the president $15 million in exchange for dropping his lawsuit. 

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In July 2025, Trump and Paramount Global reached a $16 million settlement over a lawsuit the president filed against CBS News for the network allegedly editing an interview between then-Democratic candidate for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, and 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker. The interview occurred just weeks before the 2024 presidential election, and Trump called it “the biggest scandal in broadcast history.” He claimed CBS News “took her answer out and gave her a different answer after it was shot.”

The network denied the claims but admitted it was edited due to time constraints.