Donald Trump and Mary Trump just put an end to one of the family’s ugliest legal battles. The president and his niece reached a quiet resolution in their years-long dispute over leaked financial records.
Donald Trump and Mary Trump settle $100M lawsuit
Donald Trump and Mary Trump have settled their long-running lawsuit over leaked tax records, Reuters reports. The U.S. president originally sued his niece for $100 million in damages in 2021. Both sides announced the settlement in a letter filed on Tuesday with a New York state court in Manhattan.
The settlement terms remain undisclosed at this time. A formal dismissal is expected in the coming weeks. That dismissal would be with prejudice, barring Trump from ever filing the same lawsuit again. Lawyers for both parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The White House referred all comment requests to the president’s legal team.
Trump accused Mary Trump of joining an “insidious plot” with the New York Times. He claimed she exploited his tax records to make money and advance political agendas. The president alleged his niece violated confidentiality provisions of a 2001 family estate settlement. That earlier agreement involved the estate of Fred Trump Sr., who died in 1999.
Mary Trump, a psychologist, identified herself as a key Times source in her 2020 book. The tell-all bestseller was titled “Too Much and Never Enough.” Meanwhile, the Times’ 2018 investigation into Trump’s finances won a Pulitzer Prize. Lawyers for Mary Trump argued the lawsuit violated a New York state law. That law bars frivolous cases designed to silence critics’ free speech.
A state appeals court found a “substantial” legal basis for Trump’s confidentiality claim in May 2024. However, the court suggested he might deserve only “nominal damages” rather than $100 million. A judge previously dismissed Trump’s related claims against the Times and its reporters in 2023. That judge later ordered Trump to pay $392,639 in their legal fees. The same judge also dismissed Mary Trump’s separate fraud lawsuit against the president in 2022.
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on Mandatory.com.
