NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has added The New York Times to the list of media companies he’s challenged in court, filing a $15 billion defamation lawsuit that targets four of its journalists in a book and three articles published within a two-month period before the last election.

In a Truth Social post announcing the lawsuit early Tuesday, Trump called the Times “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the nation’s history” and a virtual mouthpiece for Democrats. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florida.

The Times called the lawsuit meritless and an attempt to discourage independent reporting. “The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics,” spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said.

It follows lawsuits Trump has filed against ABC News and CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” both of which were settled out of court by the news organizations’ parent companies. Trump also filed a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch in July after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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

Trump sparred with a pair of reporters on Tuesday before he and first lady Melania Trump departed for a state visit to the United Kingdom. He told one of the journalists he has a “lot of hate” in his heart.

Trump said in the lawsuit they “maliciously peddled the fact-free narrative” that television producer Mark Burnett turned Trump into a celebrity — “even though at and prior to the time of publications defendants knew that President Trump was already a mega-celebrity and an enormous success in business.” The 85-page lawsuit also attacks claims the reporters made about Trump’s early business dealings and his father, Fred.