A timeline of Trump legal fights with media organizations

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, with host Jimmy Kimmel, on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. (Randy Holmes / ABC)

U.S. President Donald Trump has had a contentious relationship with news organizations, and the media in general, during both his terms in office. Wednesday’s indefinite suspension by ABC of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show is the latest example.

Kimmel, a veteran late-night comic, is a frequent critic of Trump and his policies. Kimmel’s monologue during Monday’s show included a reference to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and led some ABC-affiliated stations to say they would pull the show from their lineups.

“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump later wrote on the Truth Social media site.

Here is a look at key media moments in recent months since Trump took office:

December 2024

ABC News agreed to pay US$15 million toward Trump’s presidential library as part of a defamation lawsuit settlement over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable of raping writer E. Jean Carroll. The network also agreed to pay US$1 million in legal fees.

The settlement agreement described ABC’s presidential library payment as a “charitable contribution.”

Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in a Miami federal court in March 2024 after the network aired the segment in which Stephanopoulos repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump. Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.

Feb. 12

Trump decided to remove The Associated Press from the White House press pool. That meant AP journalists no longer would have access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events not open to a full press corps. The move was in retaliation for AP’s decision not to follow his lead in changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in all instances.

The AP Stylebook calls for referring to the body of water by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump chose. The reasoning is that AP disseminates news around the world and must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.

The wire service later sued Trump and a district court sided with the AP in April, affirming on First Amendment grounds that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech. A federal appeals court in June stayed that decision.

May 1

Trump signed an executive order aimed at slashing public subsidies to PBS and NPR and alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting. His order instructed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations.

Later that month, NPR and three of its local stations sued Trump, arguing that the order violated their free speech and relies on an authority that he does not have. This summer, Congress approved eliminating US$1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting.

July 2

Paramount Global decided to pay Trump US$16 million to settle a lawsuit regarding editing of a CBS’ “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last October. At the time Harris was the Democratic candidate for president.

Trump’s lawyers claimed he suffered “mental anguish” following the interview and sued for US$20 billion. The company was hoping to put the issue to rest as it sought administration approval of a merger. Paramount, which owns CBS, said the money will go to Trump’s future presidential library and to pay his legal fees.

July 18

CBS announced it would cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. Colbert is one of Trump’s most prominent and persistent late-night critics. CBS said “Late Show” was canceled for financial reasons, not for content. However, the announcement came three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between Trump and CBS parent company Paramount Global over the “60 Minutes” story.

July 18

Trump filed a US$10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch whose News Corp owns the paper. The move came a day after the Journal published a story reporting on his ties to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The article described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

The Justice Department had earlier asked a federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in Epstein’s sex trafficking case. The Trump administration had announced it would not be releasing additional files from the case.

Sept. 15

Trump filed a US$15 billion defamation lawsuit in federal court in Florida against The New York Times. The lawsuit targets four of the newspaper’s journalists, a book and three articles published within a two-month period before November’s presidential election.

The book and an article written by Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig focused on Trump’s finances and his pre-presidency starring role in television’s “The Apprentice.”

Trump also cited an article by Peter Baker last Oct. 20 headlined “For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment and a Michael S. Schmidt piece two days later featuring an interview with Trump’s first-term chief of staff, John Kelly, headlined “As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator.”

The Times has called the lawsuit meritless and an attempt to discourage independent reporting.

The Associated Press