President Trump is suing the New York Times and his niece, Mary Trump for “tortiously breaching and/or interfering with his contractual rights and otherwise maliciously conspiring against him.”
“The defendants engaged in an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records which they exploited for their own benefit and utilized as a means of falsely legitimizing their publicized works,” the lawsuit states, per Fox News. “The defendants’ actions were motivated by a personal vendetta and their desire to gain fame, notoriety, acclaim and a financial windfall and were further intended to advance their political agenda.”
The former president is demanding no less than $100 million in damages.
The suit also specifically names New York Times reporters David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner as defendants, all of whom won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting into Trump’s wealth based on tax documents they obtained.
Trump alleges the journalists were “in the middle of an extensive crusade to obtain” his “confidential tax records” and that Mary Trump was convinced to “smuggle the records out of her attorney's office and turn them over.”
The lawsuit claims Mary had access to over 40,000 pages of highly sensitive, private and confidential materials including financial documents, accountancy, tax records, income tax returns, bank statements and legal documents.
In response to the lawsuit, Mary Trump - who is an outspoken critic of her uncle - told the Daily Beast: “I think he is a f***ing loser, and he is going to throw anything against the wall he can.”
“It’s desperation,” she added. “The walls are closing in and he is throwing anything against the wall that will stick. As is always the case with Donald, he’ll try and change the subject.”
