President Trump files defamation and libel lawsuit against New York Times

President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times and several of its reporters, accusing the newspaper of libeling him in several articles in the lead-up to last year’s presidential election. In a Truth Social post, President Trump described the 174-year-old newspaper as “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country.” “The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” he wrote. President Trump said that to win the presidency in 2024, he had to overcome “persistent election interference from the legacy media,” which he said was led by the New York Times. He also railed against the newspaper’s front-page endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, describing it as “deranged.” President Trump filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Florida’s Middle District, naming as defendants the New York Times Company and reporters Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, Peter Baker and Michael S. Schmidt. Penguin Random House — the publisher of a book titled “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success” — co-authored by Buettner and Craig, was also named as a defendant. President Trump accused the newspaper and its reporters of defaming him in the “disparaging book” and “three false, malicious, defamatory, and disparaging articles” the president alleged were crafted “with actual malice, calculated to inflict maximum damage” on him.