President Donald Trump settled a $100 million lawsuit against his niece, Mary Trump, for her part in leaking his confidential information to The New York Times as part of a bombshell investigation into the president’s tax filings.
“The parties are pleased to report they have reached a settlement and anticipate being able to stipulate to the dismissal of this action with prejudice in the ensuing weeks,” attorneys for both parties wrote in a joint letter to the judge ahead of a status hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Lawyers for the president and his niece did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the terms of the settlement.
If the case is dismissed with prejudice, as the letter requests, the president cannot pursue additional legal action against his niece on the matter.
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Trump sued Mary Trump, The New York Times, several journalists and ABC in September 2021. The original complaint alleged the defendants engaged in an “insidious plot” that was “motivated by a personal vendetta and their desire to gain fame.”
Trump’s lawyers argued that the group of journalists from The New York Times “relentlessly sought out” his niece to persuade her to “smuggle” records to the newspaper.
A New York Supreme Court justice dismissed the lawsuit against The New York Times and its journalists in 2023 — ordering the president, who was not in office at the time, to pay all legal fees associated with the case.
“These actions are at the very core of protected First Amendment activity,” Justice Robert Reed argued, defending journalists’ pursuit of the president’s niece.
The reporters won a Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for their extensive investigation into the Trump family’s tax history.
The president has launched multiple lawsuits against individuals and entities that have leaked his confidential financial records.
Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department for $10 billion in January, arguing that the government failed to properly secure the president’s confidential tax returns. Trump dropped the lawsuit in exchange for creation of a controversial $1.776 “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate people who have been investigated by the federal government.
Federal Judge Kathleen Williams reopened the case on May 29 after a group of 35 former federal judges urged her to look into possible “collusion” ahead of the case’s dismissal.
Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress that the Justice Department would not move forward with the fund in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on June 2.
But despite bipartisan pushback on the fund, lawmakers did not pass an amendment to kill it during Senate budget reconciliation proceedings earlier this month.
Virginia federal Judge Leonie Brinkema moved to indefinitely block the “anti-weaponization” fund on Friday, arguing Blanche’s verbal statements did not guarantee that the fund would be dropped. Brinkema’s preliminary injunction extended her original block on the fund that was set to expire.
An earlier version of this story misstated the consequences of a dismissal. If the case is dismissed with prejudice, no further legal action can be pursued.
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