Former President Donald Trump has paid the New York Times $400,000 in legal fees in a lawsuit he filed against the company, three reporters and his niece over a Pulitzer Prize-winning article about his family's wealth and tax practices. Ordered to pay nearby.
In 2021, Trump accused a liberal newspaper and his niece Mary Trump of “unlawfully infringing and/or interfering with their contractual rights and other malicious acts” in order to obtain and release his 2018 tax records. He filed a $100 million lawsuit against the paper, accusing the newspaper of conspiring to commit the crime.
In May, Judge Robert R. Reed dismissed the lawsuit against the Times, with reporters Suzanne Craig, David Barstow, and Russell Buettner writing in a ruling that President Trump's claims against the Times “constitutionally fail.” said. Trump's claims against his estranged niece Mary Trump that she violated a prior settlement agreement by providing her tax records to reporters are still pending.
A court has ordered Donald Trump to pay The New York Times $400,000 in legal fees in an unsuccessful lawsuit over his family's assets and tax practices. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden campaign's meeting with Delaware New York Times fails: report
Reid said that given the “complexity of the issues” and other factors in the case, it was reasonable for Donald Trump to have to pay attorneys for the Times and its reporters a total of $392,638 in legal fees. He said it was accurate.
“Today's decision shows that the state's newly revised anti-SLAPP laws can be a powerful force for protecting press freedom,” Times spokeswoman Daniel Rose Ha said, according to the Associated Press. ” Ha was referring to a New York state law that prohibits SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) lawsuits, which are used to intimidate or silence critics through expensive and frivolous legal proceedings.
“The court sent a message to those who abuse the judicial system to silence journalists,” Ha said.
Donald Trump's lawyer Alina Haba said she remains disappointed that the Times and its reporters were removed from the case. She said she was pleased the court “recognized the strength of our case against Mary and rejected her attempts to avoid accountability.”
The New York Times Building in midtown Manhattan. Former President Donald Trump has paid the New York Times $40 in legal fees in a lawsuit he filed against The New York Times, three reporters and his niece over a Pulitzer Prize-winning article about his family's wealth and tax practices. He was ordered to pay nearly $10,000. (FOX News Photo/Joshua Commins)
President Trump says legal problems were orchestrated by Biden and Democrats: 'A new form of fraud'
“I look forward to moving forward with the case against her,” Haba said, according to the Associated Press.
The former president is “in the midst of a massive campaign” to obtain his “confidential tax records” as three journalists say Mary Trump “smuggled records out of his attorney's office and turned them over to the paper.” He claimed that he had been persuaded to do so. .
The complaint alleges that Mary Trump has “over 40,000 highly confidential pages of financial documents, accounting documents, tax records, income tax returns, bank statements, legal documents, etc.” , accessed private and confidential documents.'' The “relevant documents” pertained to the former president as a result of their discovery during a lawsuit related to the will of Mary Ann Trump, Donald Trump's mother and Mary Trump's grandmother.
The lawsuit claims the documents were considered confidential as part of the settlement agreement.
In May, New York state judge Robert Reed dismissed the lawsuit against the newspaper, saying in a ruling that Trump's claims were “constitutionally invalid.” (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
According to the complaint, Craig “relentlessly and relentlessly sought out Mary Trump for certain documents that he believed were in her possession” and ultimately secreted classified documents from the president's niece. They claim they provided them with a “burner” phone to help them get it out the door. a law office.
Mary Trump has been an outspoken critic of her uncle, appearing regularly on liberal cable news networks to bash him. She wrote her book Too Much and Never Enough: Ho My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man in 2020 and its 2021 sequel The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal.
On October 2, 2018, the Times published an article that said, “Trump engaged in questionable tax scheme while reaping wealth from father,” and that it was “based on vast amounts of confidential tax returns and financial records.” ” he admitted. The complaint says this language confirms that the Times had “actual knowledge that the confidential records were in fact confidential.”
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Brian Flood and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
