A federal judge 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.”
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday dismissed the complaint and granted the president’s lawyers 28 days to refile their 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 explained.
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.
In a blistering four-page ruling, Judge Merryday stated that he was dismissing the suit because it “unmistakably and inexcusably” violated the rules governing civil litigation.
“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,” according to him. “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.”
In dismissing the suit because Trump’s complaint was procedurally improper, the judge did not rule on the merits of Trump’s defamation claim, instead giving his lawyers 28 days to refile it in a “professional and dignified manner.”
Merryday, who was appointed by President George H. W. Bush, stated that the complaint contains eighty pages of repetitive claims and praise for President Trump, but fails to establish the two counts of defamation alleged. He chastised Trump’s lawyers for pressuring him to “labor through” “superfluous” praise for Trump’s show “The Apprentice,” as well as the size of his real estate empire and the “historic fashion” of Trump’s 2024 presidential 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,” according to the judge. “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 its reporters, Peter Baker, Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Michael Schmidt, as defendants. The lawsuit also named Penguin Random House as a defendant, which published 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 for the Democratic Party.” The newspaper’s editorial routine now includes industrial-scale defamation and libel against political opponents,” according to the lawsuit.
Trump’s attorneys claim that The New York Times and Penguin Random House intended to harm not only the president’s “hard-earned and world-renowned reputation for business success,” but also his chances of winning the 2024 election.
A New York Times spokesperson said Tuesday that the lawsuit had no merit.
“It lacks any legitimate legal claims and is instead an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” a Times spokesperson stated. “Intimidation tactics will not stop the New York Times. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and defend journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.
“This is a meritless lawsuit,” according to 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 sued The Wall Street Journal for $10 billion after the Journal reported that Trump allegedly sent disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein a bawdy letter in 2003 that was included in a book made for Epstein’s 50th birthday, which Trump has denied.
In response to the suit, a spokesperson for Journal owner Dow Jones stated, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend ourselves against any lawsuit.”
