A New York judge on Wednesday dismissed former President Donald J. Trump’s lawsuit against DailyExpertNews because the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into his finances was clearly protected by the First Amendment.
When Mr. Trump filed suit in 2021, he accused the paper and three of its reporters of conspiring in a “treacherous plot” with his estranged niece, Mary L. Trump, to improperly obtain his confidential tax information for a series of publicized stories. in 2018.
In a ruling filed Wednesday afternoon, Justice Robert R. Reed of the Manhattan state Supreme Court wrote that Mr. Trump’s claims against his niece, The Times and its reporters “fail as a matter of constitutional law.”
“Courts have long recognized that reporters have the right to participate in lawful and ordinary newsgathering activities without fear of tort liability — as these actions are at the heart of First Amendment protected activities,” Judge wrote. Drove.
The judge also ordered Mr Trump to pay legal fees and associated costs for The Times and its reporters, Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner.
“DailyExpertNews is pleased with the judge’s decision today,” said Charlie Stadtlander, a company spokesperson. “It is an important precedent that reaffirms that the press is protected when it engages in routine newsgathering to obtain information vital to the public.”
In a statement, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said that “we will weigh our client’s options and continue to fight vigorously for him,” though she did not specifically comment on whether Trump’s lawyers will appeal. would oppose the verdict.
The Times reporters “went far beyond the conventional news-gathering techniques allowed by the First Amendment,” she said, adding, “All journalists should be held accountable when they commit civil wrongdoings. .”
While the ruling overturned the lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump, he is still entangled in several legal cases in which he is the defendant. The former president was charged in March in New York for his role in paying a porn star hush money to hide her story of a sexual encounter with him.
He is the first former or sitting president in history to face criminal charges and also faces investigations in Georgia and Washington.
Mr. Trump’s taxes became a matter of public concern after he failed to disclose his tax returns during the 2016 presidential campaign. Presidential candidates had routinely released their returns for at least four decades, but Mr Trump refused, citing an ongoing audit.
That secrecy led to criticism that lasted throughout his presidency and to questions about his financial holdings.
The documents obtained by The Times formed the basis of a series of articles documenting what the paper described as Trump’s history of tax avoidance and “outright fraud”. The series was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting.
The investigation has also cast doubt on the former president’s claims that he is a self-made billionaire. Instead, it emerged that he had inherited the equivalent of at least $413 million from his father, a real estate developer, largely through “questionable tax schemes.”
Mr. Trump has threatened to sue news media organizations many times during his long career in public life and has unsuccessfully sued The Times in the past.
In 2020, Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign sued The Times for libel after the opinion section, which operates independently of the editorial board, published a guest essay titled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo.” That lawsuit was dismissed in 2021.