President Donald Trump filed a federal defamation lawsuit Monday against The New York Times, four of its reporters and Penguin Random House over coverage of his 2024 campaign.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, which covers the area where Trump resides outside the White House, accused the newspaper of trying to ruin his reputation as a businessman, sink his campaign and prejudice judges and juries against him in coverage of his campaign.
The reporters and defendants are Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, Peter Baker and Michael S. Schmidt. Penguin Random House published a book by Craig and Buettner titled "Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success."
The newspaper, the suit alleges, "continued spreading false and defamatory content about President Trump" and refused to recognize he "secured the greatest personal and political achievement in American history" with his 2024 win.
The suit singles out a Times editorial endorsing Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
"The [Editorial] Board asserted hypocritically and without evidence that President Trump would 'defy the norms and dismantle the institutions that have made our country strong,'" the suit says.
It also points to three long-form articles last year by the reporters named in the filing challenging narratives about Trump's success as a businessman, looking at past scandals and analyzing his character as one that could move the Oval Office toward dictatorship.
"Today, the Times is a full-throated mouthpiece for the Democrat Party," the filing alleges. "The newspaper's editorial routine is now one of industrial-scale defamation and libel against political opponents. As such, the Times has become a leading, and unapologetic purveyor of falsehoods against President Trump."
The Times said the suit is without merit.
"It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting," a spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. "The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people."
Penguin Random House and the reporters named in the suit did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Tuesday.
The suit includes letters Trump's lawyers sent to the Times and Penguin Random House in October, along with responses from the two media organizations' lawyers. The letter to the Times demanded it cease and desist from making "false and defamatory statements" about Trump and listed a litany of complaints about Times coverage.
Newsroom lawyer David McCraw responded by defending the reporting in articles mentioned by Trump's lawyers.
"Little needs to be said about the rest of your letter, which is principally a litany of personal complaints about The New York Times and its reporters, punctuated with falsehoods and premised on the deeply troubling notion that anyone who dares to report unfavorable facts about a presidential candidate is engaged in ‘sabotage’ (as opposed to, say, contributing to the free exchange of information and ideas that makes our democracy possible)," McCraw wrote, according to the letter attached to Monday's suit.
Carolyn K. Foley, Penguin Random House’s senior vice president and associate general counsel, responded to Trump lawyer Edward Andrew Paltzik: "The fact that the authors of the book do not share your favorable view of your client's career, does not provide the foundation for a defamation claim."
Monday's filing seeks no less than $15 billion in compensatory damages for the alleged defamation, as well as unspecified punitive damages.
The reporters Schmidt, Craig and Baker have been contributors to MSNBC and NBC News.
ABC and Paramount, the parent company of CBS, have settled lawsuits brought by Trump, and he launched a new one against The Wall Street Journal and its ownership in July.
