Overview
- A joint letter filed Wednesday with a Manhattan state court announced a settlement and said the parties expect to seek dismissal of the case with prejudice in the coming weeks while keeping terms private.
- The lawsuit, filed by President Trump in 2021, accused Mary Trump of leaking tax-related material used in the New York Times’ 2018 investigation and sought $100 million for breach of a 2001 Fred Trump Sr. estate confidentiality provision.
- Courts had already narrowed the fight: a 2023 judge dismissed Trump’s claims against the Times and ordered him to pay reporters’ legal fees of about $392,639, while a May 2024 appeals decision found a ‘substantial’ basis for the confidentiality claim but suggested only nominal damages might apply.
- Mary Trump publicly identified herself as a Times source in her 2020 book and her lawyers argued the suit violated New York protections against frivolous cases aimed at silencing critics.
- If the court grants a dismissal with prejudice the litigation will end and bar refiling, though undisclosed settlement terms leave open any private arrangements and preserve broader questions about confidentiality agreements and press reporting.