A judge dismisses Trump's $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times.
The president had accused the media of defaming him during the 2024 election campaign.
WashingtonA breath of fresh air in the increasingly stifling United States under Donald Trump's presidency. Two days after the announcement the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's show A federal judge in Tampa, Florida, has cut short a comment about Charlie Kirk's killer. the defamation suit that the president had filed against the New York Times Last week, Trump was demanding $15 billion in damages. Judge Steven D. Merryday, appointed by former President George W.H. Bush, dismissed the claim in a highly critical ruling, calling the complaint "plainly improper and impermissible."
"In this case, a prominent American citizen (perhaps the most prominent American citizen) alleges defamation by a prominent American newspaper publisher (perhaps the most prominent American newspaper publisher) and by other individuals and entities," Merryday wrote. "Pleading only two counts of defamation, the complaint runs to 85 pages. Count 1 appears on page 80, and Count 2 appears on page 83." The White House has yet to comment on the decision.
Merryday emphasizes the weak merits of the two cases brought by the president's legal team. The judge reminded that any lawyer should know that a lawsuit is not a "public forum for vituperation and invective" and that it is not "a megaphone for public relations, a podium for impassioned oratory at a political rally, or the functional equivalent of Hyde Park's speaker's corner."
Judicial clap
The judicial blow to the president comes amid escalating pressure on the media that has practically become an open war. On Thursday night, aboard Air Force One, following the uproar over Kimmel's suspension, Trump threatened to revoke the licenses of American television networks that provide "negative" coverage of his presidency.
Resorting to lawsuits to weaken and pressure those media outlets to publish news he doesn't like has been a popular tactic on Trump's part. He did the same thing in the summer with the Wall Street Journal, whom he has taken to court for publishing the existence of the birthday greeting he sent to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. As with the New York newspaper, the president was suing Rupert Murdoch's newspaper for defamation.
He previously also sued ABC and CBS. He also sued the former for defamation after journalist George Stephanopoulos spoke of rape when the civil suit against Trump for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll came to light. In the latter, he sued the latter over an interview the program 60 Minutes conducted with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and demanded $10 billion in damages. ABC settled the case by agreeing to pay him $15 million, and CBS did the same, forking over $16 million.
