Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Donald Trump

Trump files $100M lawsuit against Mary Trump, The New York Times

“The defendants engaged in an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records which they exploited for their own benefit and utilised as a means of falsely legitimising their publicised works”

Loading

Former US president Donald Trump has filed a $100 million (€85 million) lawsuit against his estranged niece Mary L Trump and The New York Times, alleging they engaged in “an insidious plot” to obtain his tax returns for the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of his finances.

The lawsuit, filed in Dutchess County, New York state, says that New York Times reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner conducted “an extensive crusade to obtain Donald J Trump’s confidential tax records.”

“The defendants engaged in an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records which they exploited for their own benefit and utilised as a means of falsely legitimising their publicised works,” the lawsuit says, alleging they were “motivated by a personal vendetta.”

The New York Times and the three journalists won the Pulitzer in 2019 for their investigation of the Trump family’s finances, which the Pulitzer Prize Board said “debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges.”

The newspaper’s story alleged that Mr Trump had received more than $400 million (€341 million) in today’s terms from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through fraudulent tax schemes.

Mary L Trump is the daughter of Donald Trump’s eldest brother Fred Trump Jr, who died in 1981 from complications due to alcoholism.

In her no-holds-barred 2020 memoir, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” she revealed that she was the primary source for the New York Times investigation.

Mr Trump’s 27-page lawsuit asserts that the New York Times reporters “relentlessly sought out his niece, Mary L Trump, and convinced her to smuggle the records out of her attorney’s office and turn them over to The Times.”

Ms Craig tweeted “I knocked on Mary Trump’s door. She opened it. I think they call that journalism.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
Advertisement
Advertisement

The lawsuit alleges that, by providing information, Ms Trump was in violation of a non-disclosure agreement signed in 2001 after a settlement over the estate of Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump Sr.

The former president is seeking $100 million in compensation and damages, as well as all the proceeds from his niece’s book.

In a statement quoted by NBC, Ms Trump called her uncle “a loser.”

“It’s desperation. The walls are closing in and he is throwing anything against the wall that he thinks will stick,” she said.

“As is always the case with Donald, he’ll try and change the subject.”

Mr Trump is under investigation in New York for tax fraud and other alleged wrongdoings relating to the financial activities of his Trump Organisation.

Last month the US Justice Department also ordered the Treasury to provide a congressional committee with six years of records that Mr Trump has long refused to make public.

US presidents are not required by law to release details of their personal finances, but every US leader since Richard Nixon has done so.

Mr Trump repeatedly said he would release them pending an audit but ultimately broke with the tradition.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“The Times’s coverage of Donald Trump’s taxes helped inform citizens through meticulous reporting on a subject of overriding public interest,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the paper, said in a statement quoted by US media.

“This lawsuit is an attempt to silence independent news organisations and we plan to vigorously defend against it.”

Loading

Comments
Advertisement

Trending

Latest

You May Also Like

Donald J. Trump

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a Get Out the Vote Rally in North Charleston, South Carolina. Advertisement Advertisement

Donald Trump

The more former President Donald Trump gets “hit,” the stronger he becomes, Trump’s legal spokeswoman Alina Habba told Newsmax on Sunday night. “He’s still very focused on...

crime

ATLANTA (AP) — A list of criminal charges in Georgia against former President Donald Trump briefly appeared Monday on a Fulton County website, but prosecutors said...

Donald Trump

NewsmaxThu, August 10, 2023 7:31pmURL:Embed: On Thursday’s “John Bachman Now,” Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik slams the indictment of former President Donald Trump by...

China

NewsmaxThu, August 10, 2023 7:31pmURL:Embed: Donald Trump blasts ‘incompetent’ Joe Biden for making America a ‘laughingstock.’ He added that “China is taking over”. Don’t...

Donald Trump

Fox NewsWed, August 9, 2023 8:30pmURL:Embed: David Spunt reports on search warrant requested by special counsel Jack Smith. Advertisement Advertisement

Donald Trump

NewsmaxFri, July 28, 2023 11:28pmURL:Embed: Kimberly Guilfoyle joins “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE” to weigh in on the Trump’s documents indictment, and Hunter Biden’s plea deal...

Donald Trump

NewsmaxFri, July 28, 2023 5:30pmURL:Embed: On Friday’s “National Report,” Attornies Ameer Benno, May Mailman and Gerard Filitti discuss the additional charges against former President...

Democrats

Fox NewsFri, July 28, 2023 5:30pmURL:Embed: Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., joined ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss her take on the DOJ’s latest charges against...

Democrats

Former President Donald Trump said it would be a “very dangerous” idea for Democrats to have him locked up in prison. In an interview...

Advertisement