Trump sues The New York Times, Penguin Random House for defamation and libel, seeks $15 billion

US President Donald Trump sued The New York Times, four of its reporters, and the Penguin Random House publisher for at least $15 billion on Monday, claiming defamation and libel, and citing reputational damage, a Florida court filing shows.

Trump’s suit cites a series of New York Times articles, one an editorial prior to the 2024 presidential election, which said he was unfit for office, and a 2024 book published by Penguin titled “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”

“Defendants maliciously published the Book and the Articles knowing that these publications were filled with repugnant distortions and fabrications about President Trump,” according to the filing lodged on Monday.

The New York Times and Penguin do not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

Trump’s lawyers say in the filing that the publications have harmed Trump’s business and personal reputation, thereby causing massive economic damage to his brand value and significant damage to his future financial prospects.

The filing comes after Trump threatened last week to sue The New York Times for its reporting on an allegedly sexually suggestive note and drawing given to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times,” Trump posted yesterday on his social media platform Truth Social.

In his post, Trump accused the paper of lying about him, his family and businesses, as well as movements and ideologies affiliated with him such as the America First Movement, and Make America Great Again, or MAGA.

In his second term, Trump has intensified his crackdown against media companies. Earlier this year he sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, for at least $10 billion over the newspaper’s report that his name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Epstein.

In July, CBS parent company Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump alleging that the CBS news program “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with former US vice president Kamala Harris that the network broadcast in October.