U.S. President Donald Trump sued The New York Times, four of its reporters, and publisher Penguin Random House for at least $15 billion, claiming defamation and libel, and citing reputational damage, a Florida court filing showed.

Trump's suit cites a series of New York Times articles, one an editorial prior to the 2024 presidential election, which said he was unfit for office, and a 2024 book published by Penguin titled "Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success."

"Defendants maliciously published the Book and the Articles knowing that these publications were filled with repugnant distortions and fabrications about President Trump," according to the filing lodged on Monday in the U.S. District Court, Middle District Florida.

The New York Times and Penguin did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

The publications have harmed Trump's business and personal reputation, thereby causing massive economic damage to his brand value and significant damage to his future financial prospects, Trump's lawyers said in the filing.

"The harm to the value of TMTG (Trump Media and Technology Group) stock is one example of how the Defendants’ defamation has injured President Trump," said his lawyers, citing "a precipitous decline in the stock price."

TMTG stock has been under pressure in recent months fueled by worries about the end of a so-called lock-up period related to its stock market debut in March.

The filing comes after Trump threatened last week to sue The New York Times for its reporting on an allegedly sexually suggestive note and drawing given to Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019.

Trump has said he parted ways with Epstein before the financier's legal troubles became public in 2006.

"Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times," Trump said earlier on Monday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

In his post, Trump accused the paper of lying about him, his family and businesses, as well as Republican-led movements and ideologies such as the America First Movement, and Make America Great Again, or MAGA.

In his second term, Trump has intensified his crackdown against media companies. Earlier this year he sued The Wall Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, for at least $10 billion over the newspaper's report that his name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Epstein.

In July, CBS parent company Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump alleging that the CBS news program "60 Minutes" deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that the network broadcast in October.

Trump's Truth Social post on The New York Times lawsuit reads in full:

"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. I view it as the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER. Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF! The “Times” has engaged in a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole. I am PROUD to hold this once respected “rag” responsible, as we are doing with the Fake News Networks such as our successful litigation against George Slopadopoulos/ABC/Disney, and 60 Minutes/CBS/Paramount, who knew that they were falsely “smearing” me through a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration, which was, in effect, a malicious form of defamation, and thus, settled for record amounts. They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal. The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW! The suit is being brought in the Great State of Florida. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"