Current:Home > MarketsDonald Trump ordered to pay The New York Times and its reporters nearly $400,000 in legal fees -AssetTrainer
Donald Trump ordered to pay The New York Times and its reporters nearly $400,000 in legal fees
View
Date:2025-04-24 11:40:08
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump was ordered Friday to pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees to The New York Times and three investigative reporters after he sued them unsuccessfully over a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices.
The newspaper and reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russell Buettner were dismissed from the lawsuit in May. Trump’s claim against his estranged niece, Mary Trump, that she breached a prior settlement agreement by giving tax records to the reporters is still pending.
New York Judge Robert Reed said that given the “complexity of the issues” in the case and other factors, it was reasonable that Donald Trump be forced to pay lawyers for the Times and the reporters a total of $392,638 in legal fees.
“Today’s decision shows that the state’s newly amended anti-SLAPP statute can be a powerful force for protecting press freedom,” Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoads Ha said, referring to a New York law that bars baseless lawsuits designed to silence critics. Such lawsuits are known as SLAPPs or strategic lawsuits against public participation.
“The court has sent a message to those who want to misuse the judicial system to try to silence journalists,” Rhoads Ha said.
In a separate ruling Friday, Reed denied a request by Mary Trump – now the sole defendant – that the case be put on hold while she appeals his June decision that allowed Donald Trump’s claim against her to proceed.
A message seeking comment was left with Mary Trump’s lawyer, Theodore Boutrous.
Donald Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, said they remain disappointed that the Times and its reporters were dropped from the case. She said they are pleased that the court has “once again affirmed the strength of our claims against Mary and is denying her attempt to avoid accountability.”
“We look forward to proceeding with our claims against her,” Habba said.
Donald Trump’s lawsuit, filed in 2021, accused the Times and its reporters of relentlessly seeking out Mary Trump as a source of information and convincing her to turn over confidential tax records. He claimed the reporters were aware her prior settlement agreement barred her from disclosing the documents, which she’d received in a dispute over family patriarch Fred Trump’s estate.
The Times’ reporting challenged Donald Trump’s claims of self-made wealth by documenting how his father, Fred Trump, had given him at least $413 million over the decades, including through tax avoidance schemes. Mary Trump identified herself in a book published in 2020 as the source of the documents.
The Times’ story said that Donald Trump and his father avoided gift and inheritance taxes by methods including setting up a sham corporation and undervaluing assets to tax authorities. The Times says its report was based on more than 100,000 pages of financial documents, including confidential tax returns for the father and his companies.
Donald Trump, who sought $100 million in damages, alleged Mary Trump, the Times and the reporters “were motivated by a personal vendetta” against him. He accused them of engaging “in an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly sensitive records which they exploited for their own benefit.”
In dismissing the Times and its reporters from the lawsuit, Reed wrote that legal news gathering is “at the very core of protected First Amendment activity.”
Mary Trump, 58, is the daughter of Donald Trump’s brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981 at age 42. She is an outspoken critic of her uncle, whom she has regarded as “criminal, cruel and traitorous.”
In July, Mary Trump filed a counterclaim against Donald Trump under New York’s anti-SLAPP law, arguing that Donald Trump’s lawsuit was “purely retaliatory and lacking in merit” and intended to “chill her and others from criticizing him in the future.”
___
Follow Sisak at x.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips
veryGood! (2877)
Related
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Trump, other Republicans call for travel restrictions, sparking new 'Muslim ban' fears
- Minneapolis City Council approves site for new police station; old one burned during 2020 protest
- Head of China’s state-backed Catholic church to visit Hong Kong amid strained Sino-Vatican relations
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- Lisa Marie Presley Called Out “Vengeful” Priscilla Movie Before Her Death
- House passes GOP-backed $14.3 billion Israel aid bill despite Biden veto threat
- Japan’s prime minister visits Manila to boost defense ties in the face of China’s growing aggression
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- German club Mainz terminates Anwar El Ghazi’s contract over social media posts on Israel-Hamas war
Ranking
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Live updates | Palestinians report Israeli airstrikes overnight, including in southern Gaza
- Man who blamed cancer on Monsanto weedkiller awarded $332 million
- California man who squatted at Yosemite National Park vacation home gets over 5 years in prison
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- A gas explosion at a building north of New York City injures 10
- FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon tried to pull a fast one on consumers with secret price gouging
- Pulling an all-nighter is a temporary antidepressant
Recommendation
Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
Judge says ex-UCLA gynecologist can be retried on charges of sexually abusing female patients
Russia steps up its aerial barrage of Ukraine as Kyiv officials brace for attacks on infrastructure
Nepal scrambles to rescue survivors of a quake that shook its northwest and killed at least 128
South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
NFL backup QB rankings: Which teams are living dangerously with contingency plans?
Target offering a Thanksgiving dinner for $25: How to order the meal that will feed 4
Florida man faces charges after pregnant woman is stabbed, hit with cooking pan, police say