In a ruling dripping with derision, a federal judge has rejected President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, asserting that the rambling 85-page suit did not follow federal rules for filing civil complaints.
The president’s team has been given a month to refile, and a Trump spokesperson indicated that they will do so.
Judge Steven D. Merryday of the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida said Friday that the suit “stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8” of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
A complaint must be a “short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact,” he wrote, and Trump’s broadside against The Times was “decidedly improper and impermissible.”
Merryday said Trump’s legal team can refile in the next four weeks, but must keep the complaint to 40 pages or fewer.
A complaint is not supposed to be “a public forum for vituperation and invective” or “a megaphone for public relations,” he said.
When Trump filed the defamation suit earlier this week, claiming $15 billion in damages, numerous legal experts told CNN that the suit was meritless, and several argued that it was more of a PR stunt than a serious case.
The lengthy lawsuit accused the Times of being a “virtual mouthpiece” for the Democratic Party. It also named as defendants publisher Penguin Random House and four Times reporters, including two who wrote a book for Penguin, titled “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”
The complaint read at times like a pro-Trump op-ed, with page after page of gushing praise for the president and repeated references to lawsuits he has filed against other media outlets.
The president’s legal team indicated that it will submit an updated complaint.
“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,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the New York Times said they “welcome the judge’s quick ruling, which recognized that the complaint was a political document rather than a serious legal filing.”
On Thursday, New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn said at an Axios event that Trump was “wrong on the facts” and “wrong on the law” regarding defamation.
“We’ll fight it, and we’ll win,” Kahn said.
Dana Bash contributed reporting.
