Key Points:
- A federal judge dismissed Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, calling the 85-page complaint too long and improper.
- Judge Steven Merryday gave Trump’s legal team 28 days to refile a shorter, 40-page complaint that complies with federal civil procedure rules.
- The Times rejected Trump’s claims, with executive editor Joseph Kahn saying the president is “wrong on the facts” and “wrong on the law.”
A federal judge in Florida has dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, saying the complaint filed earlier this week was improperly written and excessively long.
In his ruling on Friday, Judge Steven Merryday of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida said the 85-page complaint “stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8” of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires civil filings to be concise and direct.
“A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally,” Merryday wrote, adding that the lawsuit read more like a political document than a legal filing. He gave Trump’s legal team 28 days to submit a revised complaint, limited to 40 pages.
Trump filed the lawsuit on Monday, accusing the Times of serving as a “virtual mouthpiece” for Democrats and defaming him in its reporting during the 2024 election cycle. The complaint also named publisher Penguin Random House and four Times journalists, including two who authored a book about Trump for Penguin.
The filing included extensive praise of the president and references to his past lawsuits against media organizations, prompting legal analysts to describe it as more of a public relations move than a substantive case.
Trump was seeking at least $15 billion in assumed damages.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said the president will refile. “President Trump will continue to hold the Fake News accountable through this powerhouse lawsuit against the New York Times, its reporters, and Penguin Random House, in accordance with the judge’s direction on logistics,” the statement said.
The Times has rejected Trump’s claims. “We welcome the judge’s quick ruling, which recognized that the complaint was a political document rather than a serious legal filing,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Times executive editor Joseph Kahn said at an Axios event on Thursday that Trump is “wrong on the facts” and “wrong on the law” in his defamation allegations. “We’ll fight it, and we’ll win,” Kahn said.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of clashes between Trump and mainstream media outlets. This week, Trump also threatened the broadcast licenses of television networks and signaled that his Federal Communications Commission may take action against large media companies. The threat came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly criticized ABC over a monologue aired on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” earlier in the week; ABC suspended the show on Wednesday.
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