Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

Trump’s $15 Billion NY Times Suit Also Has a Serious Intent

The president wants to tear down another vital institution while unwinding legal protections for the media.

September 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM UTC

Timothy L. O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

He’s very litigious.
Photographer: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

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President Donald Trump — as is his wont when irritated or aggrieved — has deposited a $15 billion defamation lawsuit on the doorsteps of the New York Times, four of its reporters and the publisher of a book two of them wrote about him.

The suit contends that the defendants are essentially proxies for a “legacy media” that has morphed into a “mouthpiece of the Democratic Party,” dedicated to sabotaging his political prospects and with “zero regard for ‘norms’ or ‘institutions.’”