A federal judge in Florida tossed President Donald Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times on Friday.
Trump sued the Times for defamation for allegedly attempting to undermine his character and his 2024 presidential candidacy with “actual malice.” U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday, a George H.W. Bush appointee, ruled that the president’s lawsuit was full of “tedious and burdensome” language and ordered his legal team to resubmit an amended version of the complaint.
“A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally,” Merryday wrote. “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 said Trump must submit an amended version in 28 days that consists of no more than 40 pages.
Bush-appointee federal judge throws out whopper of a lawsuit in Florida filed 4 days ago by President Trump against New York Times, criticizes complaint as unprofessional, ‘decidedly improper and impermissible’ https://t.co/hh15pTP1fl pic.twitter.com/BpSnUcy7oz
— Ted Bridis (@tbridis) September 19, 2025
Merryday cited a rule called the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires a plaintiff to submit “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to re-lief,” according to the ruling. He wrote that the 85-page lawsuit violated that rule by only alleging “two simple counts of defamation.”
The judge further said that many of the claims in the lawsuit were “improper and impermissible,” including the assertion that Trump won the 2024 election “in historic fashion” and that the Times engaged in “persistent election interference.”
Trump alleged in the initial lawsuit that dozens of articles and a book written by two Times reporters, Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, promoted “falsehoods” about him to impair his reputation. He claimed that the book, “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success,” was attempting to smear Trump’s success on “The Apprentice” by inaccurately stating that executive producer Mark Burnett discovered Trump and made him a celebrity.
The suit also pointed to the editorial board’s endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris in September 2024, which stated that Trump would “defy the norms and dismantle the institutions that have made our country strong.”
CBS and its parent company, Paramount, agreed to pay $36 million in order to settle Trump’s lawsuit over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Harris in October 2024. ABC News settled Trump’s lawsuit against the network in December 2024 by paying $15 million over host George Stephanopoulos’ false claim that the president was found liable of rape.
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