Overview

• U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday dismissed the 85-page defamation complaint as “decidedly improper and inadmissible,” calling it confusing, rhetorical and noncompliant with federal pleading rules.
• Trump’s legal team has 28 days to refile a complaint capped at 40 pages, with the judge stressing that a lawsuit is not a public-relations “megaphone” or a political rally podium.
• The suit targeted rk TNew York Times, four of its reporters and Penguin Random House, citing 2024 articles and the book Lucky Loser as allegedly false and damaging to Trump’s reputation.
• The ruling addresses only procedural defects and does not decide the merits, while Times and Penguin Random House defended their reporting and framing of the case as protected by First Amendment values.
• Legal experts and press advocates describe the litigation as part of a broader pressure campaign on critical media, citing concurrent FCC warnings and ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show as examples heightening press-freedom concerns.