US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said he is suing The New York Times for $15 billion for allegedly lying about his presidency, family and businesses in the latest move to censure a media outlet for coverage he does not approve of. 

“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social.  

He added that the suit would be brought in Florida.

“Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual “mouthpiece” for the Radical Left Democrat Party,” Trump wrote. 

Donald Trump's post on Truth Social Truth Social Truth Social

He described this alleged bias as “the single largest Campaign contribution, EVER”, and took particular aim at the paper’s endorsement of his Democratic presidential rival Kamala Harris. 

“Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!

“I am PROUD to hold this once respected ‘rag’ responsible, as we are doing with the Fake News Networks.”

The lawsuit filed in US District Court in Florida names several articles and one book written by two of the publication’s journalists and published in the lead up to the 2024 election, saying they are “part of a decades-long pattern by the New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump”.

“Defendants published such statements negligently, with knowledge of the falsity of the statements, and/or with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity,” the lawsuit says.

Trump has already taken legal action against a number of media outlets, which opponents have described as an authoritarian crackdown on the freedom of the press.

One of those legal actions is a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, which published what it said was a note written to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. 

Trump denies writing the cryptic, suggestive message.

With reporting from Press Association