Former President Donald Trump has sued “The New York Times” and his niece, Mary Trump, for “conspiring” to obtain information on his family and tax returns and expose it in a report published by the newspaper in 2018.
In the lawsuit, delivered this Tuesday in a New York state court, the “crusade” against him is denounced by a group of journalists who allegedly “convinced” the ex-president’s niece to “clandestinely remove” confidential files. from your attorney’s office and deliver them to the media.
“The defendants concocted an insidious scheme to obtain highly sensitive confidential files, which they exploited for their own gain and used as a means to falsely legitimize their published works , “ says Trump’s defense in the lawsuit.
The newspaper published in 2018 an extensive report based on “tax returns and financial files” supplied, in part, by Trump’s niece and in which it was documented how he increased his fortune through a plot of tax evasion related to real estate businesses of his father over the decades.
The authors of the report, who won a collective Pulitzer Prize the following year for their work, are named in the lawsuit.
For her part, Mary Trump, who published in 2020 a book about the then president and his family, in which she identified herself as the source of the report in question, is accused of having broken a confidentiality agreement.
“The actions of the defendants were motivated by a personal ‘vendetta’ and by their desire to gain fame, notoriety, acclaim and exceptional benefits, and they intended to advance their political agenda , “ says Trump’s complaint.
The former president is demanding compensation from the defendants for damages of 100 million dollars and also asks to receive payments for the income obtained by “The New York Times” in relation to the report and for the benefits of his niece’s book.