A New York judge has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay over $400,000 in legal fees to The New York Times for a now-dismissed lawsuit he filed against the paper, three of its reporters, and his niece.
In 2021, Trump filed a lawsuit against the New York Times, alleging it of colluding with his estranged niece, Mary Trump, to obtain and publish his tax returns. In May 2023, New York Judge Robert Reed rejected the case filed against the Times and its reporters, stating that they were protected by the First Amendment and ordered Trump to pay their legal fees.
Reed concluded on Friday that $392,638.69 was “a reasonable value for the legal services rendered,” given the intricacy of the case and the attorneys involved. (In June, a portion of the action against Mary Trump was permitted to proceed, but her request for reimbursement for legal fees was denied.)
Susanne Craig, David Barstow, and Russell Buettner of the New York Times conducted an investigation into Trump’s wealth and taxes in 2018, disclosing facts from tax forms the former president had refused to share publicly, claiming they were under audit. The publication went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for its reporting.
“Today’s decision demonstrates that the state’s newly amended anti-SLAPP statute can be a powerful force for protecting press freedom,” a New York Times spokesman said Friday, referring to a rule intended to deter frivolous defamation cases aimed at silencing defendants. “The court has sent a message to those who want to misuse the judicial system to try to silence journalists.”
In his $100 million lawsuit, Trump claimed that the reporters were aware of a settlement agreement that barred Mary Trump from publishing certain papers. He claimed that the newspaper and the reporters were involved in an “insidious plot” to obtain illicit copies of his tax data from his niece.
A representative for Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, who defended him in the lawsuit, did not reply immediately to a request for comment on Friday’s order. “All journalists must be held accountable when they commit civil wrongs,” Habba said after Reed dismissed the claim last year. The New York Times is no exception, with its correspondents going far beyond the traditional news gathering procedures permitted by the First Amendment.”