Donald Trump has announced he’s suing The New York Times, just days after he threatened to do so over its reporting into his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said he had “the Great Honor of bringing a $15bn Defamation and Libel Lawsuit” against “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country”.

Mr Trump’s lengthy post – made late on Monday – is focused on his belief the outlet is bias towards the Democrats, citing the endorsement of Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.

It has “been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long”, he added.

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The lawsuit – which has been brought in Florida – comes after Mr Trump raised the prospect of suing the newspaper last week for publishing articles about alleged notes he had sent Epstein.

He dismissed the reporting as false.

A lewd birthday message Trump allegedly sent to the convicted sex offender for his 50th birthday in 2003 was published by the US Congress days later.

The pages are contained in files from the estate of the deceased billionaire paedophile, handed over to a Congressional committee.

The collection of birthday tributes include a hand-drawing of a woman’s body, signed “Donald”. They also contain a picture of Epstein holding an outsized cheque, signed by “DJTRUMP”.

Mr Trump has maintained the note wasn’t written by him, claiming the handwriting and signature do not match his own.

The “birthday book” also included notes from former British minister Peter Mandelson, who has been sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US over revelations about his relationship with Epstein.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied any impropriety involving Epstein, whom he once counted as a friend.

Responding to his initial threat to sue, a spokeswoman for The New York Times said last week: “Our journalists reported the facts, provided the visual evidence and printed the president’s denial. It’s all there for the American people to see and to make up their own minds about.

“We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favour and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.”

Donald Trump has said he is sending the National Guard into the city of Memphis to fight crime, with Chicago likely to be next.

The Memphis Safe Task Force will be a “replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts” in Washington DC, the US president said on Monday, as he continues to use military force to battle urban crime.

Officials from various federal agencies – including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the US Marshall’s service – will also go to Memphis, as Mr Trump said: “We’re sending in the big force now.”

He said there was “virtually no crime in DC right now”, after National Guard troops were deployed to the nation’s capital last month and the city’s police force was brought under federal control.

Mr Trump, who arrives in the UK for his second state visit this week, signed a memo setting up the Memphis operation in the White House.

He was joined in the Oval Office by Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, who – the president said – had asked him to intervene there.

Mr Lee thanked the president, who told him it “will be your proudest moment”, before adding “we’re going to be doing Chicago probably next.”

Calling Chicago “a great city”, Mr Trump said “we’re going to make it great again very soon.”

The president told of a conversation he had with a businessman, who told him: “Sir, you’ve got to save Chicago. You can’t let it go.”

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Vance blames ‘left-wing extremism’ for Kirk killing

Unlike Mr Lee, Illinois’ Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, and the city’s Democratic leaders, have criticised the idea, insisting the action isn’t needed.

Shortly before Mr Trump’s announcement, the White House said on social media that Memphis’ total crime rate was higher than the national average and suggested it had increased since last year, unlike national rates.

But the city’s police force recently reported decreases across every major crime category in the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period in previous years.

Overall crime hit a 25-year low, while murder hit a six-year low, police said.

Persistent gun violence has plagued Memphis for years, with a record total of more than 390 murders in 2023.

The president hinted other cities, such as St Louis, Baltimore, and New Orleans, could follow.

JD Vance has paid tribute to Charlie Kirk while hosting his show and claimed “left-wing extremism” was a factor in his assassination, while the FBI director said DNA matching the suspect’s was found on evidence at the scene.

The vice president hosted The Charlie Kirk Show from the White House in tribute to the right-wing influencer, who was killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

“The last several days have been extremely hard,” he said, adding that: “Everyone in this building owes something to Charlie… I don’t think I’m alone in saying that Charlie was one of the smartest political operators I’ve ever met.”

During his opening monologue, Mr Vance said “we have to make sure that the killer is brought to justice,” before claiming that left-wing extremism was part of the reason behind Mr Kirk’s death.

“We have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism that has grown up over the last few years,” he said, “and I believe is part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet.

“We’re going to talk about how to dismantle that and how to bring real unity that can only come when we tell the truth and everybody knows that they can speak their mind without being cut down by a murderer’s gun.”

Later, while speaking with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Mr Vance said the Trump administration is trying to stop “festering violence from the far-left from spreading”.

And in his closing remarks, the vice president claimed without evidence that “Liberal billionaires rewarded” and funded outlets that published criticisms of Mr Kirk after his death.

He also claimed, again without evidence: “People on the left are much likelier to defend and celebrate political violence. This is not a ‘both sides’ problem.”

FBI: Suspect linked to evidence at scene

Tyler Robinson, 22, from Washington in Utah, was arrested after a manhunt on suspicion of killing Mr Kirk, and is due to appear in court on Tuesday.

He is being held without bail on suspicion of aggravated murder, a felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice.

The motive of the shooting is unclear, while experts said engravings left on ammunition at the scene of the shooting were “extremely online”.

But Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer James Cox, previously claimed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he had been “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology”.

And on Sunday’s NBC News Meet The Press show, Mr Cox said the suspect was in a relationship with his roommate, who was in the process of transitioning – something unnamed officials confirmed to the channel. So far, no official has yet said whether the relationship is relevant to their investigation.

Later on Monday, FBI director Kash Patel told Fox News that evidence found at the scene had been linked to Robinson via DNA sequencing.

He told Fox and Friends that DNA matching Robinson’s was found on a towel allegedly wrapped around a firearm that was discarded in a wooded area near the university – stressing no other evidence from the scene had been processed as of yet.

Mr Patel added that the suspect’s actions were premeditated, and repeated the claim that the killing was based on his political beliefs.

“His family has collectively told investigators that he subscribed to left-wing ideology,” he said, “and even more so in these last couple of years, and he had a text message exchange… in which he claimed that he had an opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and he was going to do it because of his hatred for what Charlie stood for.”

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Vance says ‘I owe so much to Charlie’

The vice president and Mr Kirk were close friends, with Mr Vance saying in his first tribute that “he was a true friend” and that “he didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government”.

The vice president also said on the Rumble show that “I owe so much to Charlie”, adding that Mr Kirk texted friends that Mr Vance should be the vice presidential nominee for Donald Trump in the run-up to last year’s presidential election.

“It’s such an honour to have people show me that Charlie said ‘we want JD to be the VP nominee’,” he added.

“Do you know what it means to me that such a good guy, such a good friend, such a lion and visionary of our movement was advocating for me?”