Trump sues niece and New York Times over tax story

DONALD TRUMP has filed a $100million (£73million) lawsuit against his estranged niece Mary Trump and The New York Times, alleging they engaged in “an insidious plot” to obtain his tax returns for the paper’s Pulitzer Prizewinning investigation of his finances.

It claims New York Times reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner conducted “an extensive crusade to obtain Donald J Trump’s confidential tax records,” and were “motivated by a personal vendetta”.

The newspaper’s story alleged that the former president had received more than $400million in today’s terms from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through fraudulent tax schemes.

The 2018 article received more views online that any previous Times article.

Mary Trump, the daughter of Donald’s late brother Fred, disclosed in her memoir, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, that she was the primary source for the New York Times investigation.

The lawsuit alleges that, by providing information, Mary Trump was in violation of a non-disclosure agreement signed in 2001 after a settlement over the estate of Mr Trump’s father, Fred Trump Snr. The former president is seeking $100million in compensation and damages, as well as all the proceeds from his niece’s book.

In a statement quoted by NBC, Mary Trump called her uncle “a loser”.

“It’s desperation. The walls are closing in and he is throwing anything against the wall that he thinks will stick,” she said.

The New York Times said: “This lawsuit is an attempt to silence independent news organisations and we plan to vigorously defend against it.”