Trump sues NYT for $15B in defamation case

U.S. President Donald Trump has sued the New York Times for $15 billion, alleging defamation. Trump claims that the NYT and four of its reporters sought to undermine his 2024 presidential campaign and damage his reputation as a businessman.

The case was filed in Florida. According to the filing, the defendants include The New York Times Company, Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, Peter Baker, and Michael S. Schmidt. Previous NYT articles also covered Trump’s crypto ventures, including the TRUMP token launch, allegedly claiming the Trump family profited from the industry.

On social media, Trump called the NYT “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the history of our country,” claiming it has become a “mouthpiece for the Radical Left Democrat Party.”

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 wrote. 

The lawsuit challenges investigative reporting on Trump’s finances, including a book by Times journalists. This aligns with a 2022 peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Communication, which found that media scrutiny of political figures often prompts retaliatory legal action to discourage further investigation. 

Trump said he was “proud” to hold The Times accountable for decades of alleged falsehoods about him, his family, and his business, citing previous legal victories against Paramount and ABC as examples. In July 2025, he also filed a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.