A New York judge dismissed Donald Trump’s 2021 lawsuit in which he claimed that New York Times reporters had engaged in a “insidious plot” to obtain his tax records.
Additionally, the former president has been mandated to cover all legal costs and fees endured by the New York Times and its reporters. According to the lawsuit, the newspaper tracked down Mary Trump, Trump’s niece, and convinced her “to smuggle the records out of her attorney’s office.”
A decision has not yet been made on allegations made by Donald Trump against his niece.
In order to refute the former president’s claims that he was a self-made millionaire by demonstrating that he inherited hundreds of millions of dollars, The Times’ 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning stories drew on information from Mary Trump, reported the Guardian.
Robert Reed, a justice of the New York Supreme Court, stated that Trump’s assertions “fail as a matter of constitutional law,” allowing for journalists to carry out lawful, standard news gathering. These actions, according to Reed, “are at the core of protected first amendment activity.”
“The New York Times is pleased with the judge’s decision today. It is an important precedent reaffirming that the press is protected when it engages in routine newsgathering to obtain information of vital importance to the public,” Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for the Times, told the Guardian.
“We will weigh our client’s options and continue to vigorously fight on his behalf,” Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement.
The former president also sued CNN last year, alleging defamation and asking for $475 million in damages. The New York Times and the Washington Post were both sued by his reelection campaign in 2020 over opinion pieces that claimed he was involved in Russian election interference. Cases brought against each newspaper were dropped.
