{"id":168313,"date":"2025-09-19T20:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/168313\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T20:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:25:09","slug":"trumps-15b-defamation-lawsuit-against-new-york-times-thrown-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/168313\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s $15B defamation lawsuit against New York Times thrown out"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A Florida federal judge on Friday tossed out a $15 billion defamation lawsuit<\/a> filed by President Donald Trump against The New York Times.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ruled that Trump\u2019s 85-page lawsuit was overly long and full of \u201ctedious and burdensome\u201d language that had no bearing on the legal case.<\/p>\n

\u201cA complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally,\u201d Merryday wrote in a four-page order. \u201cThis action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint that should not exceed 40 pages.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit named four Times journalists and cited a book and three articles published within a two-month period before the last election. <\/p>\n

The Times had said it was meritless and an attempt to discourage independent reporting. \u201cWe welcome the judge\u2019s quick ruling, which recognized that the complaint was a political document rather than a serious legal filing,\u201d spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said Friday.<\/p>\n

Merryday noted that the lawsuit did not get to the first defamation count until page 80. The lawsuit delves into Trump\u2019s work on \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d TV show and an \u201cextensive list\u201d of Trump\u2019s other media appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective \u2014 not a protected platform to rage against an adversary,\u201d wrote Merryday, an appointment of former President George H.W. Bush. \u201cAlthough 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit named a book and an article written by Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig that focuses on Trump\u2019s finances and his pre-presidency role in \u201cThe Apprentice.\u201d Trump said in the lawsuit that they \u201cmaliciously peddled the fact-free narrative\u201d that television producer Mark Burnett turned Trump into a celebrity \u2014 \u201ceven though at and prior to the time of publications defendants knew that President Trump was already a mega-celebrity and an enormous success in business.\u201d <\/p>\n

The lawsuit also attacked claims the reporters made about Trump\u2019s early business dealings and his father, Fred.<\/p>\n

Trump also cited an article by Peter Baker last Oct. 20 headlined \u201cFor Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment.\u201d He also sued Michael S. Schmidt for a piece two days later featuring an interview with Trump\u2019s first-term chief of staff, John Kelly, headlined \u201cAs Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has also sued ABC News<\/a> and CBS News\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d both of which were settled out of court<\/a> by the news organizations\u2019 parent companies. Trump also sued The Wall Street Journal<\/a> and media mogul Rupert Murdoch in July after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A Florida federal judge on Friday tossed out a $15 billion defamation lawsuit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1927,28,101255,12,2822,2808,793,14825,101250,101254,3130,2221,101252,101256,2005,1999,3,101253,111,28594,101251,12202,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-168313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-ap-top-news","tag-business","tag-charlie-stadtlander","tag-donald-trump","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-general-news","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-john-kelly","tag-kelly-warns-trump","tag-lawsuits","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-mark-burnett","tag-michael-s-schmidt","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-peter-baker","tag-politics","tag-rupert-murdoch","tag-steven-merryday","tag-trump-lawsuits","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}