The President took to Truth Social on the night of September 15 to announce that he was taking his fight against the mainstream media to his hometown newspaper, filing a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.

Citing "longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse," the president said the Times "has been allowed to freely lie, smear and defame me for far too long...."

The President also criticized the paper for using its front page to promote its endorsement of Kamala Harris during the last presidential campaign.

He views this action, he said, "as the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER. Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!"

President Trump has had surprising, if gratifying, success in holding MSM propaganda organs accountable for their lies and defamation campaigns. 

In July, Paramount agreed to settle the President's lawsuit against "60 Minutes" for $16 million over that program's handling of an interview with Harris that the President's lawsuit said amounted to an effort to "mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales" of the election in Harris' favor. 

In December of 2024, Disney agreed to settle a similar suit filed against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for $15 million. The president's lawsuit in that case came after Stephanopoulos said on the air that the President had been "found liable for rape" in the E. Jean Carroll case.  That was not true, as Judge Lewis A. Kaplan noted in upholding the judgement, according to Newsweek. 

In his Truth Social post, the President said "I am PROUD to hold this once respected “rag” responsible...."

Predictably, the Times responded by saying the President's "lawsuit has no merit."

The paper continued: "It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting."