Trump Refiles $15 Billion Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times After Court Dismissal

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump on Oct. 16 refiled his $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, book publisher Penguin Random House, and three NY Times reporters after a judge’s earlier rejection of the case.

In a 40-page amended complaint, Trump accused the defendants of defamation over two articles and a book published last year ahead of the presidential election, alleging they contained statements intended to “wrongly defame and disparage” his professional reputation.

The lawsuit named NY Times reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner, as well as NY Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, among the defendants.

According to the filing, among the alleged defamatory statements are claims that Trump received more than $400 million from his father through “fraudulent tax evasion schemes.” The complaint also cited The New York Times’s coverage of his role in the TV series “The Apprentice” and its statements about his compliance with federal tax laws.

“Defendants individually and collectively published numerous false, malicious, and defamatory statements while realizing that these statements were false, or, at a minimum, with reckless disregard for the truth,” the lawsuit reads.

Trump is seeking $15 billion in compensatory damages—consistent with his original suit filed on Sept. 15—and an unspecified amount of punitive damages, which will be determined upon trial.

The Epoch Times reached out to The New York Times and Penguin Random House for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday previously tossed the original complaint due to its length, saying that it “stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8” of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The judge then gave Trump 28 days to amend the lawsuit.

The first complaint amounted to 85 pages.

A spokesperson for The New York Times previously told The Epoch Times that Trump’s lawsuit was meritless and called it an attempt by the president to “stifle and discourage independent reporting.”

In a Truth Social post announcing the initial filing on Sept. 15, Trump said The New York Times was “a virtual mouthpiece for the radical left Democrat Party,” citing its endorsement of then-Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.

“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW,” the president said in his post.

Trump also filed a lawsuit against Paramount over CBS’s “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, alleging that CBS edited the interview to benefit Harris in the election. Paramount paid $16 million to settle the lawsuit. Trump said in July that he anticipated another $20 million from Paramount’s “new owners,” which he said would come in the form of “advertising, PSAs [public service announcements], or similar programming.”