WASHINGTON: Donald Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times on Monday, adding to the US president`s growing list of legal attacks on news organisations he accuses of bias against him.

Trump, 79, has intensified his longestablished hostility toward the media since his return to the White House, repeatedly badmouthing journalists critical of his administration, restricting access and bringing lawsuits demanding huge amounts of compensation.

In his suit Eled in federal court in Florida, Trump accuses The New York Times of a `decades-long pattern` of smears driven by feelings of `actual malice.

The Times reported last week that Trump had threatened legal action against it in relation to its articles on a lewd birthday note he allegedly gave to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A copy of the alleged note was later released by US lawmakers. The Republican president has denied authoring the note. `The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and thatstops, NOW!` he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The lawsuit also named four New York Times reporters and the publisher Penguin Random House as defendants, according to an 85-page complaint filed in the US District Court for Florida`s Middle District.

The document cited three articles that came out between September and October last year, and a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig also published around that time.

`The Book and Articles are part of a decades-long pattern by the New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump,` read the complaint, which was dated Monday.

`The Times has become a leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods against President Trump on the legacy media landscape.` In a statement posted on X, The Times said Trump`s case `has no merit.` `It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting.

The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics,` it added.-AFP