Case Tossed on Procedural Grounds
A federal judge has dismissed, at least temporarily, President Donald Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and several of its journalists. The lawsuit centers in part on the paper’s reporting about Trump’s alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday, a George W. Bush appointee, struck the case after finding that the initial filing failed to meet basic procedural requirements under federal court rules.
Judge Faults Length and Tone of Filing
The complaint ran 85 pages but contained only two counts of defamation. Judge Merryday ruled that the filing went well beyond the “short and plain” format required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
In his order, Merryday said the filing was excessively long, weighed down by rhetorical flourishes, and included political and personal attacks that do not belong in a formal legal complaint.
Trump’s Team Ordered to Revise
Trump’s legal team now has 28 days to submit a revised version of the complaint. The new filing must be no longer than 40 pages and focus strictly on the factual and legal grounds for the claims.
As ABC News reports:
“A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner,” Merryday wrote.
In the lawsuit, which was just filed on Tuesday, Trump’s attorneys alleged that the Times has become a “leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods,” arguing that a series of articles about Trump — including a report that Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly warned the president would rule like a dictator, an article about the making of “The Apprentice,” and a report about the controversy that has followed Trump — amounted to libel.
Filed in the Middle District of Florida, the lawsuit named The New York Times and Times reporters Peter Baker, Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Michael Schmidt as defendants. The lawsuit also named Penguin Random House — the publisher of Craig and Buettner’s book “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success” — as a defendant.
“Today, the Times is a fullthroated mouthpiece of the Democrat Party. The newspaper’s editorial routine is now one of industrial-scale defamation and libel against political opponents,” the lawsuit claimed.
Importantly, the dismissal does not mean the underlying claims were ruled false or unfounded. The judge did not weigh in on whether the Times’ reporting was accurate or whether defamation occurred. His ruling addressed only the form and style of the complaint.
A Broader Strategy?
For Trump, filing such a large defamation suit — especially with dramatic language — may be part of a broader strategy to challenge media narratives and mobilize his base. Having the suit struck down only fuels rhetoric about judicial resistance. Whether it alters the trajectory of the case in the long term remains uncertain.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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