US President Donald Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times on Monday, accusing the outlet of a “decades-long pattern” of smears driven by feelings of “actual malice.”
Trump, 79, has intensified his long-established hostility toward the media since his return to the White House, repeatedly badmouthing journalists critical of his administration, restricting access and bringing lawsuits.
The Times reported last week that Trump had threatened legal action against it in relation to its articles on a lewd birthday note allegedly given to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Republican president has denied authoring the note.
“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
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The lawsuit also named four New York Times reporters and the publisher Penguin Random House as defendants, according to an 85-page complaint filed in the US District Court for Florida’s Middle District.
The document cited three articles that came out between September and October last year, and a book by reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, also published around that time.
“The Book and Articles are part of a decades-long pattern by the New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump,” read the complaint, which was dated Monday.
