A furious Donald Trump has announced a $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times days after threatening to sue the publication over its reporting of the Epstein case.
The president posted a lengthy rant on his Truth Social account on Monday night, blaming the newspaper’s endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris and “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.”
He added he was launching the lawsuit in Florida.
Calling the publication “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country,” his defamation and libel lawsuit follows The Times’ ongoing coverage of his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had threatened to sue The Times for publishing articles relating to the bawdy drawing in Epstein’s infamous 2003 birthday book, it revealed last week. The president has repeatedly called it fake and distanced himself from the reports.
Trump’s lawyer, Edward Paltzik, wanted a retraction and an apology and suggested Trump may file a $10 billion lawsuit, according to The Times.
A week later, that figure has gone up by $5 billion.
Trump did not mention Epstein by name in his post on Monday, but instead claimed The Times 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.”
He continued, “I am PROUD to hold this once respected “rag” responsible, as we are doing with the Fake News Networks such as our successful litigation against George Slopadopoulos/ABC/Disney, and 60 Minutes/CBS/Paramount, who knew that they were falsely “smearing” me through a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration, which was, in effect, a malicious form of defamation, and thus, settled for record amounts.
“They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal,” Trump wrote. “The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!”
The Daily Beast has contacted The New York Times and the White House for comment.
“Our journalists reported the facts, provided the visual evidence and printed the president’s denial,” Daniella Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The Times, said while responding to last week’s legal threat. “It’s all there for the American people to see and to make up their own minds about.”
She added, “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.”
Trump won a $16 million lawsuit in July over an interview with Harris that aired on 60 Minutes. Trump claimed her interview was edited unfairly and CBS and their parent company Paramount settled for the eye-watering sum.
In December last year, ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos agreed to pay Trump $16 million as part of a settlement in a defamation lawsuit.
The post Trump Makes Good on Threat to New York Times With $15B Lawsuit appeared first on The Daily Beast.
