Judge Tosses Trump’s New York Times Lawsuit as "Impermissible" PR Stunt

In a ruling laced with derision, a federal judge has rejected President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, finding that the rambling 85-page complaint failed to follow federal rules for filing civil cases.

The filing accused The Times of being a “virtual mouthpiece” for Democrats and also named publisher Penguin Random House and four Times reporters. (Photo: ajay_suresh Flickr)

Trump’s legal team has been given a month to refile, and a spokesperson indicated they will do so, Brian Stelter and Hadas Gold reported for CNN.

Judge Steven D. Merryday of the U.S. 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, which require a “short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact.”

Trump’s filing, he ruled, was “decidedly improper and impermissible.”

Merryday said Trump’s team could refile within four weeks, but the complaint must be capped at 40 pages. He emphasized that a complaint is not supposed to be “a public forum for vituperation and invective” or “a megaphone for public relations.”

When Trump filed the defamation suit earlier this week seeking $15 billion in damages, legal experts widely told CNN the case was meritless and more of a political stunt than a viable lawsuit.

The filing accused The Times of being a “virtual mouthpiece” for Democrats and also named publisher Penguin Random House and four Times reporters, including two who co-authored the book 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 pages of praise for the president and repeated references to lawsuits he has filed against other media outlets.

Times executive editor Joe Kahn recentlysaid at an Axios event that Trump was “wrong on the facts” and “wrong on the law” about defamation. “We’ll fight it, and we’ll win,” Kahn said.