Donald Trump must pay The New York Times and three of its reporters nearly $400,000 for their legal fees after his failed lawsuit against them, according to a judge’s order on Thursday.
The former president’s lawsuit against the newspaper and its reporters as well as his niece Mary Trump accused them of an “insidious plot” fuelled by a “personal vendetta” to improperly obtain tax records for a series of stories published in 2018.
Last year, New York County Supreme Court Judge Robert R Reed dismissed the case against the newspaper, finding that the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation was clearly protected by the First Amendment.
“Courts have long recognized that reporters are entitled to engage in legal and ordinary news-gathering activities without fear of tort liability – as these actions are at the very core of protected First Amendment activity,” he wrote in his ruling last May.
An order from the judge on 11 January demands that the former president pay $392,638 in “attorneys’ fees, legal expenses and costs” associated with The Times and reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner in the litigation.
The decision “hows that the state’s newly amended anti-SLAPP statute can be a powerful force for protecting press freedom,” a spokesperson for The Times told The Independent.
“The court has sent a message to those who want to misuse the judicial system to try to silence journalists,” the statement added.
That SLAPP statute – to combat “strategic lawsuits against public participation” – was first adopted in 1992 and expanded in 2020 in an effort to quash potentially chilling defamation threats from high-profile and public figures.
The judge’s order in the case is the latest legal blow to the former president, who is facing an avalanche of lawsuits and criminal indictments as he seeks the Republican nomination for the president in 2024.
The latest order signed on 11 January was made available one day after his appearance in the lower Manhattan courthouse for closing arguments in a civil trial stemming from a lawsuit that could imperil his vast real estate business.
He is expected to appear in federal court next week for the beginning of a federal trial stemming from a second defamation lawsuit from E Jean Carroll, following last year’s jury verdict finding him liable for defamation and sexual abuse. A second case will determine what damages he must pay, if any, for defaming her a second time after calling her sexual assault allegations “totally false”.
The Independent has requested comment from Mr Trump’s attorney in The New York Times case.
