Trump files $15bn lawsuit against New York Times for defamation

By Nkiruka Nnorom, with bureau report

United States, US, President, Donald Trump, has filed a $15 cardinal defamation suit against the New York Times, 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 instrumentality to the White House, repeatedly badmouthing journalists captious of his administration, restricting entree and bringing lawsuits.

The Times reported past week that Trump had threatened ineligible enactment against it successful narration to its articles connected a lewd day enactment allegedly fixed to enactment offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

The Republican president has, however, denied authoring the note.

“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame maine for acold excessively long, and that stops, NOW!” helium wrote connected his Truth Social platform.

The suit besides named 4 New York Times reporters and the publisher, Penguin Random House, arsenic defendants, according to an 85-page ailment filed successful the US District Court for Florida’s Middle District connected Monday.

The papers cited 3 articles that came retired betwixt September and October past year, and a publication by reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, besides published astir that time.

“The Book and Articles are portion of a decades-long signifier by the New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump,” work the complaint, which was dated Monday.

“The Times has go a leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods against President Trump connected the bequest media landscape.”

The New York Times did not instantly instrumentality AFP’s petition for comment.

Trump’s suit alleged that the Times deviated from its emblematic journalistic patterns and manufacture champion practices erstwhile covering him, specified arsenic penning articles “in the astir antagonistic and antagonistic way” and not giving him capable clip to respond earlier publishing.

The station Trump files $15bn suit against New York Times for defamation appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.