Trump ordered to pay New York Times, three reporters nearly $400,000 in legal costs over dismissed lawsuit

A New York judge on Friday ordered Donald Trump to pay The New York Times and three of its reporters nearly $400,000 to cover their legal costs for a lawsuit filed by the former president that was dismissed last year.

Trump sued the Times and the reporters over a 2018 investigation into his finances and taxes that was based in part on confidential tax records. The resulting series of articles won a Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in American journalism, in the category of explanatory reporting.

Among those articles was one titled, “Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches from His Father.”

Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha, in a statement to CNBC, said the order for legal costs issued in Manhattan Supreme Court “shows that the state’s newly amended anti-SLAPP statute can be a powerful force for protecting press freedom.”

“The court has sent a message to those who want to misuse the judicial system to try to silence journalists,” said Rhoades Ha.

SLAPP is an acronym for “strategic lawsuit against public participation.”

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment, but in a statement to NBC News said, “We are disappointed that the NY Times is no longer in this matter.”

Habba also told NBC that “we look forward to proceeding with our claims” in the lawsuit against Mary Trump, the estranged niece of the former president.

Trump’s suit, which had sought $100 million in damages, accused the newspaper and reporters of engaging in what he called an “insidious plot” with Mary Trump, to obtain his tax records for the articles. The suit alleged the defendants had “a personal vendetta” against Trump.

Judge Robert Reed tossed out Trump’s suit against the Times and its journalists in…