"The Times' newsroom was incensed at what it viewed as Project Veritas stealing its thunder," the outfit insisted in a 73-page complaint filed Friday in Westchester County Supreme Court.

The lawsuit takes aim at journalist Maggie Astor's article in the Times on Sept. 29 titled "Project Veritas Video Was a 'Coordinated Disinformation Campaign,' Researchers Say," reporting that Stanford University and the University of Washington researchers found that the group's video accusing Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of voter fraud was a "concerted disinformation campaign."

Researchers at those elite academic institutions reached the conclusions that the Times reported.