A federal judge has dismissed President Donald Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and Penguin Random House, calling the complaint “decidedly improper and impermissible.”
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday on Friday struck down the complaint and gave Trump’s lawyers 28 days to refile the lawsuit.
“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 filed on Tuesday, Trump’s attorneys claimed that the Times has become a “leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods.” They argued that several articles — 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 controversies surrounding Trump — amounted to libel.
Judge Merryday, in a four-page ruling, said he was throwing out the suit because it clearly violated the rules that govern civil lawsuits.
“A complaint is a short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact sufficient to create a facially plausible claim for relief and sufficient to permit the formulation of an informed response,” he wrote. “Although lawyers receive a modicum of expressive latitude in pleading the claim of a client, the complaint in this action extends far beyond the outer bound of that latitude.”
By dismissing the suit for procedural issues, the judge did not make a decision on the actual defamation claims. Trump’s lawyers now have 28 days to refile the case in a “professional and dignified manner.”
Merryday, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, said the complaint included 80 pages of repetitive claims and praise for Trump but did not properly establish the two counts of defamation. He criticized Trump’s lawyers for making him “labor through” the extra details about The Apprentice, Trump’s real estate empire, and the 2024 presidential election victory.
“Even assuming that each allegation in the complaint is true … a complaint remains an improper and impermissible place for the tedious and burdensome aggregation of prospective evidence, for the rehearsal of tendentious arguments, or for the protracted recitation and explanation of legal authority putatively supporting the pleader’s claim for relief,” the judge wrote. “As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”
The lawsuit, filed in the Middle District of Florida, named The New York Times and reporters Peter Baker, Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Michael Schmidt as defendants. It also named Penguin Random House, publisher of Craig and Buettner’s book Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.
“Today, the Times is a full-throated 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.
Trump’s lawyers said the Times and Penguin Random House wanted to hurt the president’s “hard-earned and world-renowned reputation for business success” and reduce his chances of winning the 2024 election.
A New York Times spokesperson said Tuesday that the suit had no merit.
“It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” the spokesperson said. “The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.”
“This is a meritless lawsuit,” said a Penguin Random House spokesperson. “Penguin Random House stands by the book and its authors and will continue to uphold the values of the First Amendment that are fundamental to our role as a book publisher.”
In July, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal after the Journal reported that Trump allegedly sent disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein a risqué letter in 2003 for a book made for Epstein’s 50th birthday, which Trump has denied.
A spokesperson for Journal owner Dow Jones said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
