Judge dismisses Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against NYT over Epstein reporting
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Judge dismisses Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against NYT over Epstein reporting")
US President Donald Trump Photograph: (AFP)
Trump has said he cut ties with Epstein long before his crimes became public and also denied writing a sexually suggestive letter in the book or creating the drawing of a curvaceous woman that frames the letter. The entry bears Trump’s name and what appears to be his signature.
A US federal judge struck down President Donald Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times newspaper on Friday over its reporting on him over the decades, including his links to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. US District Judge Steven Merryday said Trump violated a federal rule requiring applicants to outline in a short and plain statement why they deserve relief from the court. He emphasised that a lawsuit cannot be used as a forum for insults or a platform to vent against opponents.
A legal complaint, the judge said, is not “a protected platform to rage against an adversary”. He gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint.
In a post on Truth Social earlier this week, Trump signalled he would sue the New York Times, claiming the newspaper has been “allowed to freely lie, smear and defame me for far too long”.
Merryday wrote that a complaint should “fairly, precisely, directly, soberly, and economically inform the defendants of the nature and content of the claims”.
“A complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective—not a protected platform to rage against an adversary,” he added.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump accused the US newspaper of engaging in a “decades-long method of lying about your favourite President, my family, business, MAGA and our nation”. Trump also said the lawsuit would be filed in Florida.
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“The Times has engaged in a decades-long method of lying about your favourite President (me!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our nation as a whole. I am proud to hold this once respected ‘rag’ responsible, as we are doing with the fake news networks such as our successful litigation against George Slopadopoulos/ABC/Disney, and 60 Minutes/CBS/Paramount, who knew that they were falsely smearing me through a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration, which was, in effect, a malicious form of defamation, and thus, settled for record amounts,” he added.
Trump has said he cut ties with Epstein long before his crimes became public and also denied writing a sexually suggestive letter in the book or creating the drawing of a curvaceous woman that frames the letter. The entry bears Trump’s name and what appears to be his signature.
Before NYT, the US president sued The Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for its reporting on the Epstein files.
The sex scandal has led to repercussions beyond the US, with the UK recalling its ambassador to Washington over his alleged links to Epstein.
Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while facing sex abuse charges. His aide Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a prison sentence for assisting him.
