Former President Donald Trump is reportedly suing The New York Times and his niece Mary Trump over stories about his tax filings.
According to the Daily Beast, the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Dutchess County, New York, and accuses the liberal newspaper and the family member of an “insidious plot” to obtain his private records.
It claims that The Times persuaded Ms. Trump to “smuggle records out of her attorney’s office and turn them over to The Times” despite her having signed a confidentiality agreement in 2001.
Mr. Trump’s lawsuit seeks damages “in an amount to be determined at trial, but believed to be no less than One Hundred Million Dollars,” the Daily Beast reported.
Times reporters David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner were not party to Ms. Trump’s 2001 agreement, but the lawsuit claims they were “directly responsible,” citing an earlier interview the niece had given the Daily Beast. It also claims the reporters were “motivated, at least in part, by their actual malice” toward Mr. Trump.
Ms. Trump told the Daily Beast on Tuesday that her uncle “is a f—-ing loser, and he is going to throw anything against the wall he can.”
She called the new lawsuit “desperation. 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.”
The New York Times did not immediately respond to a Daily Beast request for comment.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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