Judge throws out Trump’s New York Times lawsuit and saddles him with legal costs

Former president sued newspaper and niece Mary Trump over ‘insidious plot’ to reveal his tax affairs

Donald Trump’s lawsuit against The New York Times has been thrown out by a judge with the one-term president ordered to pay all legal fees and costs in the case.

Mr Trump sued the newspaper and his niece, Mary Trump, claiming that she and three reporters had taken part in an “insidious plot” to obtain his private records for a Pulitzer-prize-winning story on his tax affairs.

The court threw out Mr Trump’s claims against the newspaper and its reporters but has not yet ruled on his niece, reported The Daily Beast.

“The New York Times is pleased with the judge’s decision today,” a paper spokesperson said in a statement.

“It is an important precedent reaffirming that the press is protected when it engages in routine newsgathering to obtain information of vital importance to the public.”

New York Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed wrote in his ruling filed on Wednesday that the former president’s claims against the defendants “fail as a matter of constitutional law” and stated that the reporting by the newspaper was at “the very core of protected First Amendment activity.”

Mr Trump had claimed in his lawsuit that the newspaper had worked with Mary Trump to “smuggle records out of her attorney’s office and turn them over ” to the reporters despite a 2001 confidentiality agreement she signed during a family dispute.

“I think he is a f***ing loser, and he is going to throw anything against the wall he can. It’s desperation. The walls are closing in and he is throwing anything against the wall that will stick. As is always the case with Donald, he’ll try and change the subject,” she told The Daily Beast when the lawsuit was first filed.