Donald Trump Asked To Pay NY Times Nearly $.4m Legal Costs

Former US president Donald Trump has been ordered to pay the New York Times nearly $400,000 (£313,900) in legal fees for a failed lawsuit.

Mr Trump’s $100m lawsuit accused the newspaper and Mr Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, of “an insidious plot” to obtain his tax records.

A judge dismissed it last year, saying its claims “fail as a matter of constitutional law”.

The series of articles on Mr Trump’s financial affairs won a Pulitzer Prize.

New York Supreme Court Judge Robert Reed, a Democrat, ordered Mr Trump to repay the New York Times for fees incurred by his failed legal action.

The judge said he arrived at the amount, $392,638, after considering several matters, including “the complexity of the issues presented” in the lawsuit, as well as the “ability and reputation” of the newspaper’s lawyers.

The lawsuit, over a 2018 investigation that alleged the former president was involved in “dubious tax schemes”, accused three journalists who reported on the story of working with Mr Trump’s niece as part of a “personal vendetta” against him. It claimed they relentlessly pursued her and convinced her to turn over documents.

Judge Reed dismissed the case in May, saying that the legal system has “long recognised that reporters are entitled to engage in legal and ordinary newsgathering activities”,

The judge said the activities were at the core of the country’s First Amendment, which protected the right to free speech.

The BBC has contacted Mr Trump’s lawyer for comment.