Former President Donald Trump must pay nearly 400,000 dollars (about 364,000 euros) claimed by The New York Times and three of its reporters for the legal expenses they incurred when they were sued by Trump for articles about his finances and taxes that the newspaper published in 2018, based in part on confidential documents.
Judge Robert Reed, of the New York Supreme Court, gave the green light to the claim of the New York newspaper and the three journalists for Trump to return $392,638.69 that they paid to lawyers and other legal expenses related to the case, according to with CNBC.
Of this figure, a total of 229,921 are for the newspaper and $162,717 for the reporters, Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russell Buettner, who presented evidence to the court to substantiate that amount, which Trump had opposed.
According to CNBC, the former president demanded payment of $100 million in damages in his lawsuit, but it was dismissed last year by Judge Reed, who in his verdict indicated that Trump's claims “do not stand up for a matter of constitutional right".
Trump accused the newspaper and the journalists in his lawsuit of participating in an “insidious plot” with his niece, Mary Trump (author of a controversial book about the life of the then-president and his family), to obtain his tax records for the articles. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants sought “a personal vendetta” against him.
The series of articles in dispute won the Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious in American journalism, in the category of explanatory reporting.
"Courts have long recognized that journalists have the right to engage in lawful and ordinary newsgathering activities without fear of tort liability, as these actions are at the very core of the activity protected by the First Amendment," he wrote. Reed.
New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha told CNBC that Judge Reed's order shows that the anti-SLAPP statute "can be a powerful force in protecting press freedom."
SLAPP (in English), acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, are lawsuits against the right to freedom of expression and the press, protected by the Constitution.
In November 2020, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law an update to New York's anti-SLAPP law that dramatically expanded the protections afforded to defendants in lawsuits over the exercise of free speech rights. The goal of an anti-SLAPP law is to deter defamation lawsuits.
"The court has sent a message to those who want to misuse the judicial system to try to silence journalists," Rhoades Ha told CNBC.
