The US president claims that the paper has been lying about him for decades, while serving as a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party
US President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, accusing the paper of engaging in a smear campaign against him and partisan favoritism toward Democrats.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump called the NYT “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the history of our country.” He claimed that the paper has become a “mouthpiece for the Radical Left Democrat Party” and described its endorsement of his Democratic rival in 2024, Kamala Harris, as “the single largest illegal campaign contribution, EVER.”
He also claimed that the newspaper “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.”
“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW.”
The NYT has yet to comment on the lawsuit, which Trump said was brought in Florida.
The newspaper has an unbroken record of endorsing presidential candidates in every election cycle since 1852. Democratic candidates have enjoyed the paper’s backing for decades, with the last Republican endorsement going to Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.
In 2024, the paper’s editorial board backed Kamala Harris, claiming she “demonstrated care, competence and respect for the Constitution – the fundamental qualities necessary for high office.”
This is not Trump’s first clash with major media outlets. Earlier this year, CBS parent Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump over a ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Harris.
Trump alleged that CBS aired two different versions of Harris’ response to a question on the Israel-Gaza conflict – one in which her remarks were what he called “word salad,” and another edited version where the answer appeared clearer. He accused the network of deliberately portraying Harris in a more favorable light ahead of the election. CBS defended its editing as standard practice and later released the full unedited interview.
