Mary Trump who shot to fame with her bestselling 2020 book about Trump, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, and an outspoken critic of Donald Trump during his presidency and The New York Times reporters Suzanne Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner along with The New York Times are sued by former US President Donald Trump for obtaining his tax documents.
In October 2018, an investigation by The New York Times into Trump’s finances which won a Pulitzer Prize, concluded that he “participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud.”
The lawsuit filed in a New York state court the former president’s attorneys maintain that Times reporters urged Mary Trump to break a legally binding agreement to keep those documents private. This is the first time Trump has sued the paper, though he had threatened to do so several times in the past.
The New York Times signalled it would not back down. ” “This lawsuit is an attempt to silence independent news organizations and we plan to vigorously defend against it.”
Mary Trump’s attorney, Theodore Boutrous, called the lawsuit “frivolous” and part of a pattern of targeting “truthful speech and important journalism on issues of public concern.”
Mary Trump is more blunt, calling her uncle a “loser” “ It’s desperation.” She added. Last year, she went to court to sue Donald Trump and two of his siblings, saying they conspired to cheat her of tens of millions of dollars. That suit is ongoing
Trump’s lawyers also allege the reporters were “motivated, at least in part” by actual malice toward the former president. The phrase “actual malice” are important because it is one of the standards used to determine whether journalists are liable to pay damages over publishing false and libelous claims about public officials or public figures. Trump has made no claims of libel or defamation against the paper or Mary Trump in the suit.
A judge had previously ruled that the confidentiality pact was too vaguely worded to prevent Mary Trump from publishing her book. The courts have normally given news outlets lease to report on the private affairs of elected officials as the public deserves to understand the people to whom they give public powers.
