The most litigious man in the history of the United States is now getting hit with blow after blow for his abuse of the judicial system. Today, he was ordered by a court to pay out over $362,000 in attorney’s fees to the New York Times and three of their reporters after one of his frivolous lawsuits was dismissed. The man who promised his fans in 2016 that they will enjoy so much winning with him that they will get tired of winning, just keeps losing.
Trump has been involved in over 4,000 lawsuits in his lifetime as both plaintiff and defendant. Nobody has weaponized the court system to intimidate, coerce and defraud more people than Donald Trump. Finally, courts have had enough and are dishing out consequences to him and his lawyers.
Trump argued that the attorneys fees were excessive and asked the court to order a lesser amount. However, the court granted the exact amount the plaintiffs requested for the Times and the three reporters who worked on the story that caused Trump to sue. Trump had alleged in the lawsuit that the New York Times engaged in an “insidious plot” when they published their story about his tax returns in 2018. He alleged that three reporters with the Times conspired with his niece Mary Trump to get him. The Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2021, stating that the article was free speech protected under the First Amendment.
You can read the court’s order here.
In May 2023, New York Supreme Court Justice Robert R. Reed dismissed a lawsuit brought forward by Trump against the Times and three of its reporters. The Republican leader had tried to sue the Times in 2021 over their Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting on Trump’s financial portfolio. Reed ruled that the Times reporters were “entitled to engage in legal and ordinary news-gathering activities without fear or tort liability — as their actions are at the very core of protected first amendment activity.”
At the time, the judge noted that Trump’s legal claims in the lawsuit “fail as a matter of constitutional law.” Craig, one of the reporters listed in the original lawsuit, shared a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, about Trump’s latest legal trouble.
According to the judge’s decision, over $229,000 of the $392,000 legal fee must be paid to Craig and Times reporter Russell Buettner while Trump must pay $162,717 to journalist David Barstow.
