The Trump administration and the press: Trump's lawsuits against news outlets

The suits multiplied around the 2024 election. In March 2024, Trump sued ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos, who had said in an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace that Trump had been "found liable for rape" of the writer E. Jean Carroll.^[14][15] A federal judge refused to dismiss the case in July, and in December ABC agreed to apologize and contribute $15 million to Trump's presidential foundation and museum to settle it.^[15][1] The FCC's later pressure on ABC is covered in a separate arc. In October 2024, Trump sued CBS for $10 billion, accusing "60 Minutes" of editing an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris in her favor; CBS said the interview had not been doctored and called the suit "completely without merit."^[16] In December he sued The Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer over a poll published the weekend before the election that showed Harris leading in Iowa, accusing them of consumer fraud and "election interference."^[17]

Trump's return to office brought one more settlement. In July 2025, Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle the "60 Minutes" suit; Sen. Bernie Sanders called the settlement a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment.^[2] In September 2025, Trump sued The New York Times for $15 billion, calling it a "virtual mouthpiece" for Democrats.^[18] Four days later, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday threw the complaint out as "improper and impermissible," writing that "a complaint is not a megaphone for public relations," and gave Trump 28 days to refile.^[19] Trump refiled in October against the Times, three of its reporters and a book publisher.^[20] In July 2026, Merryday deferred the Times's motion to dismiss and let Trump amend the complaint again by August 27.^[6] That month a federal judge in Tampa threw out Trump Media's suit against the Post, finding insufficient evidence of malice,^[5] and in September an Iowa judge dismissed the suit against the Register and Selzer, rejecting the claim that the poll amounted to consumer fraud.^[4]

The BBC case began with a documentary edit. In November 2025, a whistleblower report from a former BBC editorial standards adviser said producers had spliced together parts of Trump's January 6, 2021, speech to show him explicitly encouraging violence at the Capitol.^[21] The broadcaster's two top executives resigned, and Trump threatened to sue for $1 billion.^[21][22] The BBC apologized for the edit but rejected his demand for compensation.^[23] In December, Trump sued in Florida, seeking $10 billion for defamation and deceptive and unfair trade practices.^[24] The BBC has asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing among other things that the court lacks jurisdiction.^[25][26]

Discovery in the BBC case has reached Trump's finances and family. In July 2026, Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett ordered Trump's trust to provide financial documents the BBC sought, and in August U.S. District Judge Roy Altman paused that order while he considered Trump's request to revise his complaint.^[27][28] The BBC asked the court to help it obtain testimony and documents from Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr., which Trump's lawyers called an attempt to gain "politically-driven leverage."^[29][30] In October, the BBC said Trump had canceled an agreed deposition date, citing "matters of national importance," and it sought to depose former special counsel Jack Smith, which Trump opposed.^[31][32] Lett warned of sanctions over Trump's "lack of participation" and ordered him to sit for a deposition by December 11, before discovery closes on December 18.^[33][7] On November 10, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz denied the BBC's motion to dismiss the case but threw out one claim.^[8]