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A federal judge delivered a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump's legal team Friday, dismissing the commander-in-chief's $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and ordering attorneys to completely refile their complaint within 28 days.
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday, appointed by former Republican President George H.W. Bush, called Trump's 85-page filing "improper and impermissible," criticizing its excessive length, repetitive praise of the president, and inflammatory language that he said violated basic legal standards.
"A complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective," Merryday wrote in his ruling, adding that it should not serve as "a protected platform to rage against an adversary."
The judge emphasized that legal complaints must be "a short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact sufficient to create a facially plausible claim for relief," noting that Trump's lawyers had exceeded "the outer bound" of acceptable legal writing.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Florida, accused The New York Times of conducting a "decades-long pattern" of defamatory coverage driven by "actual malice." Trump's complaint alleged the newspaper had become "a leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods" against him.
"The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!" Trump declared on his Truth Social platform following the filing.
The legal action named four Times reporters and publisher Penguin Random House as co-defendants, seeking at least $15 billion in compensatory damages plus additional punitive awards to be determined at trial.
The complaint accused the Times of deviating from journalism industry standards by writing articles "in the most antagonistic and negative way" and failing to provide adequate response time before publication. "Put bluntly, Defendants baselessly hate President Trump in a deranged way," the filing stated.
The Times quickly dismissed the lawsuit as meritless, calling it "an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting."
"The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics," the newspaper said in a statement.
The legal challenge represents the latest escalation in Trump's intensified campaign against news organizations since returning to the White House. The 79-year-old president has repeatedly criticized journalists, restricted media access, and filed multiple high-stakes lawsuits against outlets he claims show bias against his administration.
Trump's legal strategy has shown mixed results but notable recent successes. He secured multi-million-dollar settlements from ABC and CBS, with payments directed to his future presidential library. Industry observers attributed these settlements to corporate desires to maintain favorable relationships with the Trump administration rather than the merits of the underlying claims.
The president has also filed a separate $10 billion lawsuit against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal over reporting about an alleged birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Meanwhile, the media landscape has faced additional pressure this week after talk show host Jimmy Kimmel was indefinitely suspended by Disney-owned ABC following Federal Communications Commission threats to revoke broadcasting licenses over comments about the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Trump's legal team now has until late January to submit a revised complaint that meets the court's professional standards, should they choose to pursue the case further.
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