Donald Trump has accused the New York Times (NYT) of damaging his $TRUMP memecoin in a $15 billion defamation lawsuit filed against the publication.
The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, alleges that the outlet damaged $TRUMP’s reputation, as well as that of his social media platform Truth Social and the wider Trump Organization, with multiple harmful statements.
Trump is following up on legal threats he made after the NYT revealed a series of birthday letters sent to the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. These included a poem and a drawing of a nude woman allegedly signed by then president. He denies writing the letter.
In the lawsuit, Trump also claims that the NYT was a ringleader for alleged election interference orchestrated by the legacy media in 2024, describing it as a “full-throated mouthpiece” for the Democrat party.
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The suit focuses on a “malicious, defamatory, and disparaging” book and three “false, malicious, defamatory, and disparaging” articles published before the election.
“The newspaper’s editorial routine is now one of industrial-scale defamation and libel against political opponents. As such, the Times has become a leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods against President Trump on the legacy media landscape,” it claims.
New York Times is critical of $TRUMP memecoin
The New York Times has covered Trump’s memecoin numerous times, reporting about the political influence it has granted to foreign-based investors, the losses incurred by investors, and how his crypto enterprise is a “muzzle velocity for corruption.”
One of the coin’s biggest buyers is Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who has, in turn, received financial backing from Trump’s World Liberty Finance, which also awarded him the role of project advisor.
However, Sun’s relationship with World Liberty Financial was strained earlier this month when the firm blacklisted his addresses.
Read more: Justin Sun takes on Elon Musk in race to be Trump’s top donor
Today, $TRUMP’s market cap is $1.7 billion, down 80% from its all-time high of $8.8 billion. Regardless, the coin is symbolic of the crypto sleaze dogging the current administration, and which has now involved Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr.
The pair are cashing in on their crypto connections and testing the limits of conflicts of interest as they work with crypto prediction markets, partnered with crypto exchanges, and invested in controversial streaming sites backed by Tether.