Donald Trump has refiled his mammoth $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times after it was previously thrown out by a judge for being “florid and enervating.”
The president has accused the newspaper of undermining his 2024 campaign and damaging his reputation as a businessman.
His enormous first complaint was 85 pages long, leading Judge Steven D. Merryday of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to say that it took the president too long to lodge any formal allegations of defamation, according to the NYT.
Trump was subsequently given 28 days to file an amended complaint.
The commander-in-chief’s second legal bid is under half the length of his original one, with Trump shearing down the complaint to 40 pages. A Times reporter, Michael S. Schmidt, has been removed as a defendant in the new complaint, which was filed yesterday.
Particularly effusive sentences, such as the ones that described Trump’s 2024 victory as “the greatest personal and political achievement in American history,” have also been taken out.
However, the total amount of money that the president is seeking in damages has remained the same: $15 billion.
A spokesperson for the New York Times has hit back by saying that the commander-in-chief is simply trying to squash news outlets that disagree with him.
“As we said when this was first filed and again after the judge’s ruling to strike it: This lawsuit has no merit,” the spokesperson said. “Nothing has changed today.
“This is merely an attempt to stifle independent reporting and generate P.R. attention, but The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team says that he is “continuing to hold the Fake News responsible through this powerhouse lawsuit.”
Also included in Trump’s complaint is Penguin Random House, which published a book about the president written by Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner. Both Craig and Buettner are also named in the lawsuit for articles they wrote about Trump’s stint as the host of The Apprentice.
The book was named Lucky Loser and had a subtitle which read: “How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”
Lucky Loser was named Best Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times and was a New York Times bestseller.
The president has sued several other media outlets during his second term, including both CBS News and ABC News, which agreed to pay $16 million in settlements.
His administration also put pressure on ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show off the air, over comments made by the TV host about MAGA Republicans using the death of Charlie Kirk to score “political points.”
Kimmel’s show was reinstated a week later, and its return broadcast was watched by 6.3 million people, almost triple its regular audience.
In addition, Trump launched a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over a birthday letter allegedly signed by the president and sent to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The letter allegedly features a sexually suggestive drawing of a woman, with Trump signing his signature over her navel.
The WSJ’s legal team has said that the “article is true” and that the president’s $10 billion lawsuit is “an affront to the First Amendment."
