Donald Trump Arts His Niece-Turned-Nemesis and The New York Times for $ 100M Over Tax Investigation

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Donald Trump; Mary Trump

D Dipasupil / Getty Images; Peter Serling / Mary L. Trump Twitter From left: Donald and Mary Trump

Former President Donald Trump accused his niece Mary Trump, The New York Times and three of the paper’s journalists as he claimed that a winning 2018 investigation into his tax deal was the result of a “destructive plot, ”court documents showed.

Trump’s suit, reviewed by TAO, seeks “an amount to be determined at trial, but believed to be not less than One Hundred Million Dollars.”

The Times, in response, called Trump’s complaint “an attempt to silence independent news organizations and we plan to vigorously defend against it.”

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New York’s Dutchess County, responds to a Times story published in 2018 about the Trump family’s wealth and alleged efforts to avoid paying taxes. The story cites documents provided by Mary Trump, who revealed herself as the source of the leak in her book 2020, Too Much and Never Not Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

At the time, Trump’s lawyer said “the allegations of fraud and tax evasion were 100 percent untrue.”

The Times reporters named in Trump’s new suit are Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russell Buettner, who both wrote the bombshell investigation report, titled “Trump Collaborating on Suspect’s Tax Schemes while Taken He Has the Treasures From His Father. “

Their work earned a Pulitzer Prize for “a prominent example of explanatory reporting” in 2019.

But Trump’s lawsuit has been reported differently.

“Defendants engaged in a destructive scheme to obtain confidential and highly sensitive records that they exploited for their own benefit and used as a means of falsely legitimizing their publicized works,” the complaint alleges. “The actions of the defendants were motivated by a personal revenge and their desire to achieve fame, popularity, recognition and a financial leap and were more intended to advance their political agenda.”

The story continues

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A special report in the October 7, 2018 edition of The New York Times investigates the alleged tax schemes used by Donald Trump

Robert Alexander / Getty Images

The suit cited an agreement in 2001 regarding the ownership of the family patriarch Fred Trump Sr., in which all parties, including Mary, agreed on terms of confidentiality and not disclosure.

The former president, 75, argues that the settlement from 2001 “clearly states” that those involved in the agreement “should not disclose any of the terms of the [the Settlement Agreement], and in addition shall not directly or indirectly publish or cause to be published, any diary, memoir, letter, story, photograph, interview, article, essay, account, or description or description of any kind whatsoever . “

Confidentiality has already been litigated.

In response to a separate suit filed by Trump’s brother Robert Trump last year, which sought to block what his niece said by citing the 2001 agreement, Mary’s attorney defended the content of Too Much and Don’t Enough with one statement.

RELATED: Donald Trump’s Niece Mary Has New Job in Politically Helping Elected LGBTQ Candidates

“President Trump and his brothers seek to suppress a book that will discuss matters of greatest public importance,” said attorney Theodore Boutros Jr., who represents Mary Trump. “They advocate this unlawful pre -trial detention because they don’t want American citizens to know the truth,” Boutros continued. “The courts will not tolerate this futile effort to reduce speech that violates the First Amendment.”

A judge agreed, ruling in July 2020 that the confidentiality provision of the 2001 settlement agreement was too vaguely defined and likely related to specific financial details; and that it would not apply to Mary’s decision, in recent years, to speak of the president.

His book was soon released.

Mary Trump

MSNBC Mary Trump

The new lawsuit alleges that Times journalists engaged in an “extensive crusade to obtain Donald J. Trump’s confidential tax records, relentlessly searched for his niece, Mary L. Trump, and convinced him to smuggle the notes from his lawyer’s office and turn them over to The Times. “

In response to the lawsuit, the Times released a statement on Tuesday: “The Times’ coverage of Donald Trump’s taxes has helped inform the public through thorough reporting on a topic of excessive interest. of the public. This lawsuit is an attempt to silence independent news organizations and we plan to vigorously defend against it. “

Susanne Craig, one of the reporters named, reacted to the allegations of malice on Twitter, writing, “I knocked on Mary Trump’s door. She opened it. I think they called the press that. that. “

Trump’s lawyer argued with TAO that “this lawsuit is not an effort to limit free speech or silence the media.”

“Rather, it’s about overly rebellious journalists who clearly go beyond the boundaries of journalistic integrity by doing persuasive acts of promoting a story,” his lawyer argued in a statement.

RELATED: Donald Trump’s Nephew Set to Publish ‘Awesome and Blessed” Tell Everyone After Family Tax Release: Report

Donald Trump

D Detained / Obtained Photos of President Donald Trump

Mary who sued her relatives over her own allegations related to family money also gave a statement to NBC News, saying of her uncle, “I think he lost, and has he’ll be thrown against the wall as much as he can. It’s desperation. “

“The walls are closing and he throws anything at the wall that he thinks will stay,” Mary said. “As always happens with Donald, he will try and change the subject.”

Mary’s lawyer turned to her uncle in a statement as well: last year’s issues. Moreover, the lawsuit is clearly intended as a deviation from the very compelling fraud case we filed on behalf of Mary Trump against Donald and his siblings. “

During the 2016 campaign, which Trump won, he focused on the decades -long tradition of presidential candidates making the tax return public. However, the documents were never released by Trump, who has repeatedly insisted he will do so once an ongoing audit is completed.

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