Lydia Glenn

Staff Writer

On September 21st, former U.S. president Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against the New York Times, Mary L. Trump – his own niece – and three reporters from the New York Times, claiming that there was an “insidious plot” against him. Trump claims to the Supreme Court of Dutchess County, NY that Times reporters pursued Trump’s niece to obtain tax documents. He says that they relentlessly sought her out and persuaded her to turn over the tax records. She did in fact turn them over but there is absolutely no proof that she was persuaded in any way by New York Times reporters. 

The suit is also seeking a payment for damages, “in an amount to be determined at trial, but believed to be no less than one hundred million dollars”, because billionaire Donald Trump most definitely needs more money. Trump also insinuates that his niece and the Times were motivated only 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 personal vendetta The New York Times has against Trump is not really known, but nonetheless, he claims there is one. 

This suit comes as no shock to the public because Trump is still falsely claiming that he won the 2020 presidential election and that it was stolen from him. No reports or evidence of a stolen election have been presented either, so the claims he continues to make are based solely on insanity. 

Going all the way back to Trump’s 2016 campaign, he promised the public that he would make his tax returns public, which is normal for presidential candidates to do. President Biden has released his tax records publicly for the past 40 years, so why Trump will not release his is unknown. He states that they were not released because there was an ongoing audit of his organization, but they were not released until his niece turned them over to The Times. So, there was no plan for Trump to ever turn them over, his niece handled that situation for him.  

 The tax reports Mary L. Trump turned over were riddled with tax dodging and outright fraud. Many claimed that Trump was in fact not self-made but made his money through “dubious tax schemes”. The amount of money that Trump inherited, figured by the tax reports, was at least $413 million. While these claims from The Times and other sources are based on fact and records, Trump and his organization claim that none of this is true and plead not guilty to evading taxes and various other schemes. 

The Times issued a statement Tuesday night after the suit was filed and said that they are planning on fighting the lawsuit. They claim, “The Time’s coverage of Donald Trump’s taxes helped inform the public through meticulous reporting on a subject of overriding public interest”. More importantly, it also said, “this lawsuit is an attempt to silence independent news organizations and we plan to vigorously defend against it”. 

As of right now, Trump’s attorney released a somewhat cryptic statement saying more litigation could be on the horizon. After this statement was released, Trump followed it up with this: “more to come, including on other people, and Fake News media”. 

With this case being so fresh, there is not much more information of a settlement option, when questioning and litigation may begin, or even if a trial is going to take place. The Times seemingly came into possession of Trump’s tax records because a willing person came forward with them. There is no proof of any malice on The Time’s part, and no illegal activity either. So, the question myself and many others may ask themselves: is there even a basis for this frivolous lawsuit, or is it Trump moving further into family drama and insanity?