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President Donald Trump’s $15B lawsuit claims New York Times disparaged his crypto project Oluwapelumi Adejumo · 26 seconds ago · 2 min read
The New York Times disputed Trump's lawsuit as groundless, denies impeding memecoin success.
2 min read
Updated: Sep. 17, 2025 at 12:26 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
US President Donald Trump has launched a $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times, claiming the newspaper and several reporters intentionally harmed his reputation and the TRUMP memecoin project.
In a statement posted on Truth Social, Trump accused the Times of a long history of “lies and smears” that he believes favor Democrats.
He highlighted the paper’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris during the last election as proof of bias, framing the lawsuit as a response to what he views as partisan attacks.
According to him:
“They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal. The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW! The suit is being brought in the Great State of Florida. “
A New York Times spokesperson had described the lawsuit as lacking any legitimate legal claims and “an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting.”
Lawsuit details
According to the court filing, the lawsuit names several New York Times journalists, including Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, Peter Baker, and Michael S. Schmidt, as co-defendants.
In addition, the lawsuit also named book publishing firm Penguin Random House, which produced a book about Trump written by Times journalists.
Trump’s legal team argued that the articles and the subsequent book were produced with malice and strategically released during the election season to inflict maximum political damage.
The complaint alleged that the publications targeted his reputation as a political candidate and extended to his personal businesses, including the Trump Organization, and his media and crypto ventures like the TRUMP memecoin.
According to the filing:
“[The] statements falsely cast aspersions on President Trump’s reputation as a businessman or the Trump Organization’s legitimacy, therefore cause direct and easily foreseeable harm to these businesses’ value, revenue, and profitability.”
The lawsuit arrives as Trump’s memecoin faces steep market losses. According to data from CryptoSlate, the $TRUMP token has dropped more than 88% in value since its launch.
While crypto markets are notoriously volatile, Trump’s legal team argued that the sustained negative coverage worsened the token’s performance by undermining investor confidence.
