(LibertySons.org) – The New York Times published a bombshell series of articles in 2018 about former President Donald Trump’s family and their tax practices. The story went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, and the former president sued the reporters and the newspaper unsuccessfully. Now, he’s been ordered to pay almost $400,000 in legal fees.
On January 12, New York Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed ordered Trump to pay $392,638 in legal fees to the newspaper and journalists David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russell Buettner. The judge stated that because of the “complexity of the issues,” it was appropriate for the former president to pay their lawyers’ fees.
Trump’s 2021 lawsuit alleged his niece, Mary Trump, violated a 2001 family settlement agreement when she turned over some of his tax records to The New York Times and its reporters. He accused the parties of engaging in “an insidious plot” to acquire highly sensitive and confidential records and then exploiting them for their own benefit. Trump’s suit went on to claim they were “motivated by a personal vendetta.”
In May 2023, Justice Reed dismissed the lawsuit against the reporters and the NYT. He wrote in his decision that the suit failed “as a matter of constitutional law.” He went on to explain that the legal system has long recognized that journalists have the right to “engage in legal and ordinary news-gathering activities” without worrying about being sued, and those “actions are at the very [heart] of protected First Amendment activity.” The justice ordered the former president to pay legal fees but hadn’t yet determined the number, which is what was resolved with the latest decision.
Mary Trump was also part of the lawsuit, and it was not dismissed against her. In a separate ruling on January 12, Reed refused a request by the former president’s niece to pause the case against her while she appeals the decision to allow the suit to move forward.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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