Florida federal judge tosses Trump’s $15B defamation lawsuit against The New York Times
ST PETERSBURG Fla AP A Florida federal judge on Friday tossed out a billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against The New York Times U S District Judge Steven Merryday ruled that Trump s -page lawsuit was overly long and full of tedious and burdensome language that had no bearing on the legal occurrence A complaint is not a megaphone for citizens relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally Merryday wrote in a four-page order This action will begin will continue and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner The judge gave Trump days to file an amended complaint that should not exceed pages The lawsuit targeted four Times journalists in a book and three articles published within a two-month period before the last ballot The Times had noted it was meritless and an attempt to discourage independent reporting We welcome the judge s quick ruling which recognized that the complaint was a political document rather than a serious legal filing spokesman Charlie Stadtlander explained Friday Merryday noted that the lawsuit did not get to the first defamation count until page The lawsuit delves into Trump s work on The Apprentice TV show and an extensive list of Trump s other media appearances As every lawyer knows or is presumed to know a complaint is not a society forum for vituperation and invective not a protected platform to rage against an adversary wrote Merryday an appointment of former President George H W Bush 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 The lawsuit named a book and an article written by Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig that focuses on Trump s finances and his pre-presidency role in The Apprentice Trump mentioned in the lawsuit that they maliciously peddled the fact-free narrative that television producer Mark Burnett turned Trump into a celebrity even 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 The lawsuit also attacked asserts the reporters made about Trump s early business dealings and his father Fred Trump also cited an article by Peter Baker last Oct headlined For Trump a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment He also sued Michael S Schmidt for a piece two days later featuring an interview with Trump s first-term chief of staff John Kelly headlined As Polling Nears Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator Trump has also sued ABC News and CBS News Minutes both of which were settled out of court by the news organizations parent companies Trump also sued The Wall Street Journal 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 Source
