New York, New York - Donald Trump has been ordered to pay the legal fees for a lawsuit he filed against the New York Times after the judge threw out the case.

According to The Daily Beast, New York Supreme Court Justice Robert R. Reed ruled that the New York Times' actions are "at the very core of protected First Amendment activity."

The former president was also ordered to pay all legal fees and associated costs for the defendant.

Trump filed the lawsuit in September 2021, accusing the news organization of conspiring in an "insidious plot" to obtain his private records for their scathing story about how he "engaged in suspect tax schemes" for years.

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The suit also listed three New York Times reporters as accomplices to the "plot," and accused his own niece Mary Trump of colluding with them to "smuggle records out of her attorney’s office and turn them over" in spite of a non-disclosure agreement she signed with the family back in 2001.

Back in 2021, after Trump filed the suit, Mary told The Daily Beast, "I think he is a f**king loser ... It's desperation. The walls are closing in, and he is throwing anything against the wall that will stick. As is always the case with Donald, he'll try and change the subject.

The judge did not toss out Trump's claims against his niece, which have yet to be ruled on.