{"id":876609,"date":"2025-10-10T00:13:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/10\/judge-throws-out-trumps-15-billion-lawsuit-against-new-york-times-citing-improper-content\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T00:13:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:13:46","slug":"judge-throws-out-trumps-15-billion-lawsuit-against-new-york-times-citing-improper-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/10\/judge-throws-out-trumps-15-billion-lawsuit-against-new-york-times-citing-improper-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge throws out Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against New York Times, citing improper content"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NEW YORK – A federal judge on Sept 19 threw out US President Donald Trump\u2019s US$15 billion (S$19.2 billion) <\/a><\/p>\n

defamation lawsuit against the New York Times<\/p>\n

over its content, calling it a \u201cdecidedly improper and impermissible\u201d effort to attack his adversaries.<\/p>\n

US District Judge Steven Merryday said Mr Trump violated a federal civil procedure rule by failing to offer a short and plain statement of why he should prevail over the Times, four of its reporters and the publisher Penguin Random House.<\/p>\n

He faulted the president for instead packing his 85-page complaint with unnecessary statements lauding his successes and \u201csingular brilliance\u201d, attacking critics, and even defending his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cA complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective – not a protected platform to rage against an adversary,\u201d wrote Judge Merryday, an appointee of Republican former president George H.W. Bush.<\/p>\n

The Tampa, Florida-based judge gave Mr Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint \u201cin a professional and dignified manner\u201d of no more than 40 pages.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Mr Trump\u2019s legal team said in a statement: \u201cPresident 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\u2019s direction on logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate statement, a Times spokesperson said: \u201cWe welcome the judge\u2019s quick ruling, which recognised that the complaint was a political document rather than a serious legal filing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penguin Random House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The Sept 19 order is an unusual rebuke by a federal judge to a sitting president over decorum in the judicial process.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump sued over three articles and a book by two of the Times\u2019 reporters. He accused the defendants of defaming him prior to the 2024 presidential election in order to sabotage his campaign and disparage his reputation as a successful businessman.<\/p>\n

In a four-page order, Judge Merryday said plaintiffs like Mr Trump are supposed to \u201cfairly, precisely, directly, soberly, and economically\u201d tell defendants in complaints why they are being sued.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s complaint said the defendants \u201cbaselessly hate President Trump in a deranged way,\u201d and that their actions \u201crepresent a new journalistic low for the hopelessly compromised and tarnished \u2018Gray Lady\u2019,\u201d a nickname for the Times.<\/p>\n

It also contended that the Times itself was \u201cderanged\u201d for endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris for president.<\/p>\n

\u201cA complaint is not a megaphone for public relations,\u201d the judge wrote. \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 REUTERS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Georgianna Pecora
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK – A federal judge on Sept 19 threw out US President Donald Trump\u2019s US$15 billion (S$19.2 billion) defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over its content, calling it a \u201cdecidedly improper and impermissible\u201d effort to attack his adversaries. US District Judge Steven Merryday said Mr Trump violated a federal civil procedure rule<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":876610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559,2316],"tags":[5610,8269],"class_list":{"0":"post-876609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"category-throws","10":"tag-throws"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}