As of: 09/22/2021 2:04 p.m.
He demands 100 million dollars in compensation: Ex-US President Trump has sued the New York Times and his niece. They are said to have forged an “insidious plot” to get his tax returns.
Former US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper and his niece Mary Trump over the New York Times revelations about his finances. He accuses them of having forged an “insidious plot” to get his tax returns. That emerges from the complaint filed in a court in New York state.
The “New York Times” reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner waged a “crusade” to gain access to confidential documents of the former president. Their motive was revenge.
Pulitzer Prize for New York Times reporter
The “New York Times” journalists were awarded the renowned Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for their 18-month research and subsequent series of articles on the Trump business empire. The jury said at the time that the reporters had, among other things, refuted Trump’s claim that he had earned his wealth on his own. They also showed that the Trump corporate empire was “peppered with tax avoidance tricks”.
The reporters revealed, among other things, that Trump had received more than $ 400 million from his father over the years. The money is said to have partly flowed through a front company to avoid taxes. Trump is said to have helped his parents, who died in 1999 and 2000, to reduce their real estate property and thus save taxes.
Donald Trump with his parents in 1992. He is said to have received more than $ 400 million from his father, Fred C. Trump.
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Mary Trump was the main source of revelations
Mary Trump is the daughter of the ex-president’s older brother, Fred Trump Jr. In her 2020 book about her family, she stated that she was the main source of the New York Times’ revelations.
Trump’s attorneys argue that by disclosing the information, his niece violated a nondisclosure agreement she signed in 2001 following a settlement over the estate of Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump Sr. The former president is demanding $ 100 million in compensation and damages, as well as all proceeds from his niece’s book.
Donald Trump’s niece Mary Trump calls her uncle a “loser”.
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Investigation against Trump Organization
Trump had refused to publish his tax returns throughout his tenure. He was the first US president since Richard Nixon to keep his finances secret. The Trump Organization – the real estate empire of the former US President – is currently under investigation in New York on suspicion of tax fraud.
Mary Trump described her uncle as a “loser” in a statement. Trump is desperate and will try “as always” to change the subject, she said, according to NBC.
The “New York Times” rejected Trump’s allegations. A spokeswoman for the newspaper said that through the careful research the population was informed about an issue of “overriding public interest”: “This lawsuit is an attempt to silence independent news organizations, and we will vigorously oppose it.”