Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told Newsmax TV the lawsuit he has filed against The New York Times is about doing the right thing for his reputation.

Arpaio and his lawyer, Freedom Watch founder Larry Klayman, filed the libel suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday in the wake of an opinion piece the paper ran Aug. 29, accusing the 86-year-old Arpaio of being, among other things, “a truly sadistic man.”

“After 55 years in law enforcement, 24 years as the sheriff who’s been elected six times, I have a reputation to be concerned of my family also,” Arpaio said during a Wednesday appearance on “America Talks Live.”

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“For this newspaper to hit me like they did, and of course I know the danger right now because all the other media will repeat all these false allegations in every article that they write. But we’re willing to take on this fight, not just for me but for the president and others that have been in the same boat that I’m in.”

Klayman joined Arpaio during the segment and said the Times deserves to pay for its harsh words against the longtime law enforcement official.

“What you have here is malice. It was vicious, it was malicious. They accused the sheriff, my good friend and client, of many, many heinous crimes. And you can’t do that, that’s called defamation per se,” Klayman said.

The lawsuit is seeking $147.5 million in damages, which Klayman said would alert the rest of the media that it is not OK to libel people — even public figures.

“If we can take The New York Times down, or at least put a chink into its side, it will have a chilling affect on going after conservatives like you and me and others, notwithstanding the heroic sheriff here,” Klayman said. “We need to really do something. He’s really the first one in a major way to push back against The New York Times.”