Donald Trump sues the New York Times and his niece
The former US president is suing three New York Times journalists and his niece for revealing personal tax documents. He is claiming more than $ 100 million in damages.
The former US president has filed a complaint through his lawyer Alina Habba against three New York Times journalists and his niece for disclosing confidential information about his finances, according to the US newspaper The Daily Beast.
Donald Trump reproaches his niece for having yielded to the requests of the journalists in question to "recover documents in the office of his lawyer in order to transmit them" to the New York daily. Thanks to these documents, the three journalists had published in 2018 a series of articles on the tax management of the fortune of the real estate magnate. After more than a year of investigation, they claimed that Donald Trump had received from his father, over several years, the equivalent of $ 413 million. These funds would have, in part, been transferred through a shell company, which would have enabled them to evade tax.
As a result of this investigation, the journalists won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in the “explanatory reporting” category the following year.
"An insidious plot"
The former president today accuses his niece of having violated a confidentiality agreement passed in 2001. In the complaint filed he claims from him, as well as from the newspaper, more than 100 million euros in damages. "They engaged in an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly sensitive documents which they exploited for personal gain and to legitimize their articles", one can read in particular in the complaint.
This isn't the first time Trump has grappled with his niece. In 2020, Mary Trump had published a book titled "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man" in which she admitted to having already given confidential information to journalists at The New York Times. Donald Trump had first tried to ban the publication because of the confidentiality agreement signed in 2001. He then almost praised the success that the book had met in sales. "I am the most important member of the Book of the Month club!" Before attacking her niece "whom I have rarely seen, who doesn't know much about me, and says wrong things about my wonderful parents (who couldn't stand her!), And me".
"Silencing the press"
"The New York Times' coverage of Donald Trump's taxes has been paramount in educating citizens through meticulous reporting on a matter of major public interest," Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the newspaper said in a statement. . "This lawsuit is an attempt to silence independent news agencies and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves against it."
Mary Trump also reacted to the complaint: "I think he is a very bad player, and that he will do anything to get by." “It's desperation,” she added. "The walls are closing around him".
