Media Settlements and Trump's Lawsuits

Updated2026-11-09 Covers2024-12-14 to 2026-11-09

Summary

Between December 2024 and September 2025, five companies paid to settle Trump’s personal lawsuits. They were ABC, Meta, X, Paramount and YouTube, and together they paid about $90M.¹ A settlement is an agreement to end a lawsuit, usually for money, without a ruling. At the time, Paramount needed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve its merger with Skydance.¹⁶ Alphabet faced antitrust remedies sought by the Justice Department (DOJ). Remedies are the fixes a court can order when a company breaks competition law.³ X’s owner, Elon Musk, was running DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency.¹⁴ Most of the money went to Trump’s presidential library fund or his White House ballroom.²,³

In January 2026 Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $10B over a leak of his tax returns.⁴ DOJ’s “settlement” of that suit created a $1.776B “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The fund could pay January 6 defendants.⁵ Another term barred the IRS from auditing Trump, his family or his companies on past returns.⁶ A federal judge blocked the fund, and DOJ withdrew it.⁷,⁸ Another judge found that the IRS suit was filed for an “improper purpose.”³² As of November 2026 the company payments and the audit term still stand.⁶⁰ Courts have dismissed his suits against the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer.⁵⁴,⁴⁷ His suits against the New York Times (NYT) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are still pending.²²,³⁷

Background

Defamation means hurting someone’s reputation with false statements. A public official or public figure who sues for defamation must show “actual malice.” That means the speaker knew the statement was false or did not care whether it was true. The Supreme Court set this rule for public officials in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964).³⁸ It extended the rule to public figures in Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts (1967).³⁹,¹⁰ Private online platforms decide which posts and accounts to allow. This is called moderation. Two legal protections cover these choices. One is the First Amendment, which bars the government from limiting free speech or a free press.⁴⁰ The other is Section 230 (47 U.S.C. § 230), a federal law that protects platforms when they block or remove material.⁴¹,³ The Communications Act is the main federal law on broadcasting. One part of it bars the FCC from censoring what broadcasters air (47 U.S.C. § 326).⁴² The FCC also reviews the transfer of broadcast licenses to new owners, as in the Skydance–Paramount merger.¹⁹,⁵⁵

Two rules limit the President on the government side. The Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause bars the President from receiving federal payments beyond his salary (Art. II, § 1, cl. 7).⁴³ A federal law (26 U.S.C. § 7217) bars the President from asking the IRS to start or stop an audit of a particular taxpayer.⁴⁴,⁴,⁵ Under Article III of the Constitution, federal courts may decide only real cases or controversies.⁴⁵ The two sides must actually oppose each other.³² In 2023–24 Trump filed two claims with federal agencies under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). That law lets people seek money from the government when federal employees wrong them, after they first file a claim with the agency.⁴⁶ Trump sought ~$230M over the Russia investigation and the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search.¹¹ Once he took office, the officials who would decide those claims included Todd Blanche. Blanche had been Trump’s criminal-defense lawyer.¹¹

What happened

Media and platform settlements

On Dec 14, 2024, ABC News paid $15M to settle a suit by Trump. The suit was about George Stephanopoulos saying Trump was “found liable for rape.” The jury’s verdict in that civil case was for “sexual abuse.”¹² The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund was set up as a corporation in late 2024.¹² On Jan 29, 2025, Meta paid $25M over its 2021 suspension of Trump’s account. About $22M of it went to the Fund. Meta paid three weeks after it announced the end of its fact-checking program.¹³ X paid about $10M on Feb 12, 2025. It did not say who received the money. In 2022, a judge had dismissed that suit. At the time of the payment, X’s owner, Elon Musk, was running DOGE. The White House declined to comment.¹⁴ On Sept 29, 2025, YouTube paid $24.5M. Of that, $22M went to the Trust for the National Mall for Trump’s ballroom (Oct 20, 2025). At the time, Alphabet faced DOJ antitrust remedies.³,²⁰ Every platform that suspended Trump in 2021 had now paid.³

CBS settlement and the Skydance merger

On Apr 14, 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social about how CBS’s 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris. He wrote that the FCC, headed by Brendan Carr, “will impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial” on Paramount/CBS.¹⁵ Paramount needed FCC approval for its merger with Skydance. On Jul 2, 2025 it settled for $16M. It did not apologize.¹⁶ CBS announced on Jul 17 that it would end The Late Show. Three days earlier, Stephen Colbert had called the settlement “a big fat bribe” on air. CBS called ending the show “purely a financial decision.” Puck reported that the show lost about $40M a year. Skydance later told senators it was not involved.¹⁷ On Jul 23 Trump claimed there was a “$20 million” side deal in ads and programming. Paramount denies it.¹⁸ The FCC approved the merger on Jul 24, after Skydance made commitments. Skydance pledged a CBS News ombudsman, an official who looks into complaints about the news. It also said it had no diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and would not set any up. Carr called the commitments “significant.” He said, “They are committing to serious changes at CBS.”¹⁹,⁵⁵,¹⁸ David Ellison is the chief executive (CEO) of Paramount Skydance, and he now controls CBS News. On Oct 6, 2026, Paramount Skydance completed its $110B purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery. With that purchase, Ellison also controls CNN (see FCC Actions and Press Access).³⁵,⁶¹,⁵³

Suits against outlets that did not settle

Trump also sued news outlets that did not settle. On Jul 18, 2025 he sued for $10B against Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal. He also sued News Corp, Rupert Murdoch and others. The suit was over the Journal’s report about an Epstein birthday letter. Trump called the letter “a fake.”²¹ He sued the New York Times for $15B (Sept 15, 2025).²² He sued the BBC for $10B (Dec 15, 2025).²³ A complaint is the document that starts a lawsuit. Judge Steven Merryday struck the Times complaint, which means he threw it out. He wrote: “a complaint is not a megaphone for public relations.”⁵⁶ A Jul 27, 2026 order left the complaint still being rewritten.²² On Nov 9, 2025, the BBC’s top two executives resigned. The BBC apologized. But it said there was “no basis for a defamation claim.”²⁴ Trump rewrote the BBC complaint. On Aug 24, 2026, the BBC filed a new request to dismiss the case. It said the court lacked jurisdiction, meaning the power to hear the case. It argued that 34 “play-starts” in Florida, made through virtual private networks, could not give the court that power.⁵¹ On Oct 22 Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett ordered that Trump be deposed by Dec 11, meaning questioned under oath before trial. She warned that the suit could be dismissed over failures in discovery, the process in which each side must share evidence.³⁷,⁵² On Oct 31, 2026, Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed Trump’s rewritten suit against the WSJ with prejudice. That means it cannot be brought again. He wrote: “Grasping at straws, the Amended Complaint attempts to manufacture flaws with the investigation.”⁵⁴

In December 2024 Trump sued Selzer and the Des Moines Register under consumer-fraud law. The suit was over a Nov 2, 2024 Iowa poll that showed Harris ahead. The defendants moved the case from state court to federal court. A federal judge rejected Trump’s challenge to that move. On Jun 30, 2025 Trump dropped the federal case and filed it again in state court that same day.⁴⁷ The defendants said the timing was meant to avoid Iowa’s anti-SLAPP law (Iowa Code ch. 652). That law lets courts quickly end suits aimed at speech on public issues. It took effect the next day.⁴⁷,⁴⁸ On Sept 23, 2026, Judge Scott J. Beattie dismissed the suit. He held that the poll is political speech and not a commercial product. Trump’s team said it will appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.⁴⁷,⁵⁰ Trump filed a notice of appeal on Sept 25. Under Iowa law the Iowa Supreme Court can keep the case or send it to the Iowa Court of Appeals.⁶⁴

Presidential library fund

The original Fund took in an estimated ~$63M. It was closed through an administrative process in late Sept 2025, then formally dissolved in December with no explanation given.² A second foundation was set up in May 2025, and it received a parcel of Miami Dade College land from Florida (Sept 23–30, 2025).²⁵,⁵⁷ It is also set to receive the 747 jet given by Qatar (Jun 19, 2026).²,²⁶ Democrats in Congress opened an investigation in March 2026.⁵⁸ Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal and Representative Stansbury say tens of millions of dollars of the ~$63M are unaccounted for. Meta and X declined their requests, citing confidentiality.²

January 6 claims and the FTCA claims

On May 2, 2025, DOJ agreed in principle to settle a suit by Ashli Babbitt’s family. The family had filed a $30M wrongful-death suit. The payment was later reported as $4.975M. ABC said it was not immediately clear whether the settlement required anyone to admit fault. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said he disagreed with the settlement.²⁷ Leaders of the Proud Boys had received clemency for their January 6 cases. Clemency is a pardon or a shortened sentence. On Jun 6, 2025, they sued for $100M. On Aug 25 DOJ asked the court to dismiss the suit. It cited sovereign immunity, the rule that the government cannot be sued unless it agrees. It also said the leaders had not first used the required claims process with the agency. Pardoned January 6 defendants then called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to resign.²⁸,²⁹,⁴⁹ Then on Jul 10, 2026, at DOJ’s own request, Judge Timothy Kelly dismissed the leaders’ seditious-conspiracy case with prejudice. Seditious conspiracy is a charge of plotting to oppose the government by force. He wrote that “no one should mistake the court’s granting of the government’s motion for its agreement with those decisions.”²⁹ On Nov 13, 2025, Senator Adam Schiff tried to block the ~$230M FTCA payout. When asked about the claims on Oct 21, Trump acknowledged something. He said he would in effect be deciding a claim against his own government.¹¹

IRS suit and the Anti-Weaponization Fund

On Jan 29, 2026, Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization sued the IRS and the Treasury for $10B. The suit was over a contractor’s leak of his tax returns.⁴ Judge Kathleen Williams questioned whether the two sides were “sufficiently adverse.” That means whether they truly opposed each other.³⁰ On May 18, 2026, DOJ “settled” by creating the $1.776B Anti-Weaponization Fund.⁵ About 1,600 January 6 defendants could claim money from it. Trump could remove any commissioner of the fund.⁵ In exchange, he dropped the IRS suit and the FTCA claims.⁵ Blanche was then acting Attorney General (AG), meaning he served without Senate approval. A May 19 term that he signed declared the government “FOREVER BARRED” from auditing Trump, his family or his companies.⁶,⁶² On Jun 7 Trump said of the rioters, “I’d pay them the kind of money that they deserve.”³¹

Court rulings on the fund and the IRS suit

Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges sued on May 20, 2026 to block the fund.³⁶ On May 29, Judge Leonie Brinkema barred DOJ from setting up or paying out the fund. She sits on the federal trial court for eastern Virginia (E.D. Va.). On June 2 Blanche told Congress that DOJ was “not moving forward with the fund, period.”⁷ Judge Williams ruled on Jul 13. She found that the IRS suit was filed for an “improper purpose,” and she referred Trump’s lawyer Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar. That group licenses and disciplines lawyers in Florida. She also sent her order to Blanche’s and Stanley Woodward’s bars.³² On Aug 2 DOJ withdrew the order that created the fund. The order withdrawing it also narrowed the audit term. Now the term “applies only retroactively,” meaning only to past returns, and does not shield future filings.⁸ On Sept 18, Brinkema ruled in a case brought by groups including Common Cause, New Haven and the National Abortion Federation. DOJ argued that the fund “has never existed and will not exist,” but she rejected that argument. The issues were “still alive and kicking,” she said. She refused to treat her case as moot, meaning no longer worth deciding because things had changed. So her block stands.³³ On Sept 11 DOJ appealed Williams’s ruling to the Eleventh Circuit, a federal appeals court.⁶³ On Sept 29 the Eleventh Circuit refused to pause Williams’s sanctions order, an order that imposes penalties. DOJ’s Oct 28 appeal brief defends the deal. It also asks that Williams be removed from the case.⁹,⁶⁰

Key dates

• 2024-12-14 — ABC agrees to pay $15M toward Trump’s presidential library — → ledger
• 2025-04-14 — Trump posts that the FCC “will impose the maximum fines” on CBS — → ledger
• 2025-07-02 — Paramount settles for $16M — → ledger
• 2025-07-18 — Trump sues WSJ for $10B — → ledger
• 2025-07-22 — Skydance pledges a CBS News ombudsman — → ledger
• 2025-07-24 — FCC approves Skydance–Paramount — → ledger
• 2025-09-29 — YouTube pays $24.5M for ballroom — → ledger
• 2026-01-29 — Trump sues IRS for $10B — → ledger
• 2026-05-18 — $1.776B Anti-Weaponization Fund — → ledger
• 2026-05-19 — Blanche signs order barring IRS claims over Trump’s past tax returns — → ledger
• 2026-05-20 — Capitol Police officers sue to block the fund — → ledger
• 2026-05-29 — Brinkema bars DOJ from disbursing the fund — → ledger
• 2026-06-02 — Blanche: DOJ “not moving forward with the fund” — → ledger
• 2026-07-13 — Williams: “improper purpose” — → ledger
• 2026-08-02 — Blanche rescinds the fund order — → ledger
• 2026-09-18 — Brinkema refuses to moot fund case — → ledger
• 2026-09-29 — Eleventh Circuit denies stay of Williams’s sanctions order — → ledger
• 2026-10-28 — DOJ appeal brief calls Williams’s ruling “riddled” with errors — → ledger
• 2026-10-31 — WSJ suit dismissed with prejudice — → ledger

Why it matters

First Amendment; Communications Act (47 U.S.C. § 326). The legal question is whether the FCC may weigh a buyer’s promises about its newsroom when it approves the transfer of a broadcast license. Here the promises included a CBS News ombudsman and “a diversity of viewpoints.” The question arises because the Act bars the FCC from censoring broadcast content, and the First Amendment protects speech. It also arises because of the President’s Apr 14 post that the FCC “will impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial.”¹⁹,⁵⁵,¹⁵ Carr’s stated position is that the commitments were “significant” and were weighed in the approval.⁵⁵ The record here does not include a court ruling or other formal review of the approval.

First Amendment (polls as political speech). In the Selzer suit the question was whether a consumer-fraud claim can reach a published election poll. Consumer-fraud laws protect buyers from being cheated. Judge Beattie held that such a claim cannot reach a poll. He said the suit would turn speech with the “highest category of First Amendment protection” into something a person could be made to pay for.⁴⁷,⁵⁰,⁴⁰

Article III case or controversy. In the IRS suit Trump was the one suing, called the plaintiff. The ones being sued, called the defendants, were agencies he heads. A DOJ led by his former lawyers represented them.⁴ Judge Williams’s Jul 13, 2026 order found “there was never adverseness between the Parties,” which means the two sides never truly opposed each other. So there was no real case or controversy under Article III. She also found that the suit was filed for an “improper purpose.”³² The administration’s position is in an Oct 28 appeal brief by Acting Deputy AG R. Trent McCotter. It says DOJ has “broad and unreviewable settlement authority,” and that her ruling is “riddled” with errors. It also says Trump “settled without receiving any money.”⁶⁰

Domestic Emoluments Clause (Art. II, § 1, cl. 7). The Clause bars the President from receiving any payment from the United States beyond his salary.⁴ Trump said the fund was for January 6 defendants and “will not benefit me.”³² No court has ruled on the emoluments question.

26 U.S.C. § 7217. The May 19 term was signed by Blanche. It bars the IRS from examining Trump, his family, his trusts and his companies for returns filed before the deal.⁶ Representative Neal called it a “personal protection racket.”⁵ Blanche said the audit term would stay when DOJ dropped the fund.⁷ No court has cancelled it.⁶⁰ The record here does not include the administration’s stated legal basis for the audit term under § 7217.

Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. § 2675). Trump’s ~$230M claims would have been decided by officials who included his former defense lawyer.¹¹ Trump gave up the claims in the May 18 deal.⁵ Nothing has been reported on whether the claims came back after the fund was withdrawn.

Related: Pardons and Clemency, Justice Department and FBI Personnel Changes, Renamings, Monuments and the Ballroom (the YouTube payment) and Law Firms and Universities. The Qatari 747 set aside for the library foundation is covered in Trump Organization Foreign Deals. That article covers it under the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bars the President from taking gifts or payments from foreign governments without Congress’s consent.²⁶

Outcome

Where things stand

As of November 2026 the company settlements still stand. They total about $90M, and most of it went to the library fund or the ballroom.¹,²,³ DOJ has given up on the fund. But Brinkema’s order barring it remains in place. The record here does not show which laws or parts of the Constitution her order rests on.⁸,³³ The term that protects Trump from audits remains. DOJ’s appeal defending the deal is before the Eleventh Circuit.⁹,⁶⁰ Courts have dismissed the WSJ and Selzer suits.⁵⁴,⁴⁷,⁵⁰ Trump has appealed the Selzer ruling.⁶⁴ The NYT and BBC suits are still pending.²²,³⁷,⁵¹,⁵² Two things are not yet in the record. One is how the Proud Boys’ civil suit ends. The other is whether the FTCA claims came back.

Status

Who is affected

These events reach several groups. Media and platform companies paid settlements.¹ News outlets and an Iowa pollster faced defamation and consumer-fraud suits.²¹,⁴⁷ January 6 defendants and their families were touched by DOJ settlements and the proposed Anti-Weaponization Fund.²⁷,⁵ The federal Treasury faced payments and claims against it.¹¹ The IRS is bound by a term that bars it from auditing Trump, his family and his companies on past returns.⁶ The money went mostly to Trump’s presidential library fund and to the Trust for the National Mall for his ballroom.²,³ A court blocked the fund, and DOJ withdrew it.⁷,⁸ The company payments and the audit term still stand.⁶⁰

• Settling companies (company settlements, Concluded) — ABC paid $15M (Dec 14, 2024), Meta $25M (Jan 29, 2025), X about $10M (Feb 12, 2025), Paramount $16M (Jul 2, 2025) and YouTube $24.5M (Sept 29, 2025). That is about $90M combined. None has been reversed.¹,¹²,¹³,¹⁴,¹⁶,³
• Presidential library fund (library fund money, Unresolved) — It took in an estimated ~$63M before it was dissolved in late 2025. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Stansbury say tens of millions are unaccounted for. Meta and X declined their requests, citing confidentiality.²
• Trust for the National Mall (company settlements, Concluded) — It received $22M of YouTube’s payment on Oct 20, 2025 for Trump’s White House ballroom.³,²⁰
• Staff and audience of CBS’s Late Show (company settlements, Concluded) — CBS announced Jul 17, 2025 that it would end the show. That was three days after Stephen Colbert called the Paramount settlement “a big fat bribe.” CBS called it “purely a financial decision.” Puck reported the show lost about $40M a year. Skydance told senators it was not involved.¹⁷
• Outlets Trump sued (Wall Street Journal suit, Concluded; New York Times and BBC suits, Pending) — The $10B Wall Street Journal suit was dismissed with prejudice on Oct 31, 2026. That means it cannot be brought again. The $15B New York Times suit is being rewritten after Judge Merryday struck the complaint. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) faces a $10B suit. Its request to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction is pending. Trump has been ordered to be deposed by Dec 11.⁵⁴,²¹,²²,⁵⁶,²³,³⁷,⁵¹,⁵²
• J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register (Selzer suit, Pending) — Judge Beattie dismissed the consumer-fraud suit on Sept 23, 2026, holding that the poll is political speech and not a commercial product. Trump’s team said it will appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.⁴⁷,⁵⁰ Trump filed a notice of appeal on Sept 25, 2026.⁶⁴
• January 6 defendants (Anti-Weaponization Fund, Reversed) — About 1,600 could have claimed money from the $1.776B fund created May 18, 2026. Judge Brinkema barred DOJ from paying it out on May 29, DOJ withdrew it on Aug 2, and her block stands.⁵,⁷,⁸,³³
• Ashli Babbitt’s family (Babbitt settlement, Concluded) — DOJ settled the family’s $30M wrongful-death suit for a reported $4.975M. ABC said it was not immediately clear whether the settlement required anyone to admit fault. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said he disagreed with the settlement.²⁷
• Proud Boys leaders granted January 6 clemency (Proud Boys civil suit, Pending) — Their $100M suit (Jun 6, 2025) awaits a ruling on DOJ’s Aug 25, 2025 request to dismiss it. On Jul 10, 2026, at DOJ’s request, Judge Kelly dismissed their seditious-conspiracy case with prejudice.²⁸,⁴⁹,²⁹
• IRS audit authority over Trump, his family and companies (audit-immunity term, In force) — The May 19, 2026 term bars IRS examinations of Trump, his family, trusts and companies for returns filed before the deal. No court has cancelled it.⁶,⁶⁰
• Federal Treasury (Federal Tort Claims Act claims, Unresolved) — Trump gave up his ~$230M claims in the May 18, 2026 deal. Reports do not say whether the claims came back after the fund was withdrawn.¹¹,⁵
• Trump’s lawyers in the IRS suit (Williams sanctions order, Pending) — Judge Williams found on Jul 13, 2026 that the suit was filed for an “improper purpose.” She referred attorney Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar and sent her order to Blanche’s and Stanley Woodward’s bars. The Eleventh Circuit refused to pause her order Sept 29.³²,⁹
• E. Jean Carroll (Carroll $5M verdict, Concluded; $83.3M verdict, Pending) — Carroll was paid more than $5.6M after the $5M verdict became final Aug 17, 2026. The $83.3M verdict is at the Supreme Court.³⁴

Key players

• Donald Trump — President — sued the media, the platforms and the IRS; filed claims under the FTCA.⁴,¹¹
• Brendan Carr — FCC chair — approved Skydance–Paramount (Jul 2025) after Trump’s Apr 14 post against CBS.¹⁵,⁵⁵
• David Ellison — Paramount Skydance CEO — later came to control CBS News and CNN.³⁵,⁶¹
• Todd Blanche — Trump’s former defense lawyer; acting AG, confirmed as AG 50–49 (Aug 8, 2026) — signed the audit term, then dropped the fund.¹¹,⁶,⁷,⁵⁹
• Judge Kathleen Williams — judge in the IRS suit — found it had an “improper purpose.”³²
• Judge Leonie Brinkema — E.D. Va. — blocked the fund; refused to call the case moot.⁷,³³
• Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges — Capitol Police officers — sued to stop the fund.³⁶
• J. Ann Selzer — Iowa pollster — Trump’s suit against her and the Des Moines Register was dismissed.⁴⁷
• Sens. Warren, Blumenthal, Schiff; Rep. Stansbury — members of Congress — pressed for answers on the library money and the DOJ payout.²,¹¹

Chronology

• 2024-12-14 — ABC agrees to pay $15M toward Trump’s presidential library — → ledger
• 2025-01-29 — Meta pays $25M — → ledger
• 2025-02-12 — X pays ~$10M — → ledger
• 2025-04-14 — Trump posts that the FCC “will impose the maximum fines” on CBS — → ledger
• 2025-05-02 — DOJ agrees to settle Babbitt suit (~$4.975M) — → ledger
• 2025-06-06 — Proud Boys sue DOJ for $100M — → ledger
• 2025-06-30 — Selzer suit refiled in state court — → ledger
• 2025-07-02 — Paramount settles for $16M — → ledger
• 2025-07-17 — CBS cancels Colbert — → ledger
• 2025-07-18 — Trump sues WSJ for $10B — → ledger
• 2025-07-22 — Skydance pledges a CBS News ombudsman — → ledger
• 2025-07-23 — Trump claims $20M side deal — → ledger
• 2025-07-24 — FCC approves Skydance–Paramount — → ledger
• 2025-08-25 — DOJ moves to dismiss Proud Boys suit — → ledger
• 2025-09-15 — Trump sues NYT for $15B — → ledger
• 2025-09-19 — Merryday strikes the NYT complaint — → ledger
• 2025-09-23 — Miami Dade College board votes to give library parcel to the state — → ledger
• 2025-09 (late) — Library Fund dissolved — → ledger
• 2025-09-29 — YouTube pays $24.5M for ballroom — → ledger
• 2025-09-30 — Florida conveys the parcel to the library foundation — → ledger
• 2025-10-20 — East Wing demolition; ballroom donors — → ledger
• 2025-11-09 — BBC leaders resign; $1B demand — → ledger
• 2025-11-13 — Schiff targets $230M DOJ payout — → ledger
• 2025-12 (mid) — Running tallies of Trump-family settlement and crypto income — → ledger
• 2025-12-15 — Trump sues BBC for $10B — → ledger
• 2026-01-29 — Trump sues IRS for $10B — → ledger
• 2026-03-11 — Congressional Democrats open library-money probe — → ledger
• 2026-04-13 — WSJ suit dismissed — → ledger
• 2026-05-18 — $1.776B Anti-Weaponization Fund — → ledger
• 2026-05-19 — Blanche signs order barring IRS claims over Trump’s past tax returns — → ledger
• 2026-05-20 — Capitol Police officers sue to block the fund — → ledger
• 2026-05-29 — Brinkema bars DOJ from disbursing the fund — → ledger
• 2026-06-02 — Blanche: DOJ “not moving forward with the fund” — → ledger
• 2026-06-07 — Trump defends J6 payouts — → ledger
• 2026-06-19 — Qatari 747 earmarked for library — → ledger
• 2026-06-29 — SCOTUS denies cert in Carroll — → ledger
• 2026-07-10 — Proud Boys criminal case dismissed with prejudice — → ledger
• 2026-07-13 — Williams: “improper purpose” — → ledger
• 2026-07-15 to 16 — Blanche says “I am his attorney” at confirmation hearing — → ledger
• 2026-08-02 — Blanche rescinds the fund order — → ledger
• 2026-08-08 — Senate confirms Blanche as Attorney General, 50–49 — → ledger
• 2026-08-17 — Carroll $5M verdict final — → ledger
• 2026-08-24 — BBC files new motion to dismiss — → ledger
• 2026-09-11 — DOJ appeals Williams’s ruling to the Eleventh Circuit — → ledger
• 2026-09-18 — Brinkema refuses to moot fund case — → ledger
• 2026-09-23 — Selzer suit dismissed — → ledger
• 2026-09-25 — Trump appeals Selzer dismissal — → ledger
• 2026-09-29 — Eleventh Circuit denies stay of Williams’s sanctions order — → ledger
• 2026-10-06 — Paramount Skydance completes Warner Bros. Discovery purchase — → ledger
• 2026-10-22 — Trump ordered deposed in BBC suit — → ledger
• 2026-10-28 — DOJ appeal brief calls Williams’s ruling “riddled” with errors — → ledger
• 2026-10-31 — WSJ suit dismissed with prejudice — → ledger

Sources