Trump wrote that the updated lawsuit "will lay out, in extreme detail, all the ways in which The Times has repeatedly and consistently acted, with actual malice in defaming me, my family, our Great MAGA Movement, and America, itself."
US District Judge Steven Merryday gave President Trump until August 27 to file a new version of the lawsuit after previously dismissing an earlier complaint while allowing his legal team to refile. Trump sued The New York Times in September, challenging coverage of his rise to fame and the role of Mark Burnett and NBC’s “The Apprentice” in shaping his public image.
The lawsuit specifically targets reporting by Times journalists Susanne Craig and Ross Buettner, including an article titled “The Star-Making Machine That Created ‘Donald Trump,’” as well as their book “Lucky Loser.” Penguin Random House is also named as a defendant, along with Times journalist Peter Baker over an article titled “For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment.”
Merryday previously dismissed Trump’s original lawsuit but allowed him to submit an amended complaint. In October, Trump filed a revised version identifying specific passages from the Times articles and book that he argues were defamatory. One statement challenged by Trump claimed that Mark Burnett’s “The Apprentice” helped create a public image around Trump, saying the show “fortified Trump’s fact-free bubble, while also making it national and bankable in ways that Trump never did on his own.”
The Times and other defendants later moved to dismiss the revised complaint, arguing that the case was filed in an improper venue and that Trump failed to meet the legal standard required for a public figure to prove defamation. The defendants argued that Trump had not plausibly shown “actual malice,” meaning that the statements were published with knowledge they were false or with reckless disregard for whether they were true or false. They also argued that many of the statements Trump challenged represented the authors’ interpretations of undisputed facts and therefore could not be considered defamatory under the law.
During a hearing last week, Merryday noted that Trump’s legal team requested additional time to address alleged weaknesses in the complaint by providing more details explaining why the challenged statements were allegedly false, defamatory and made with actual malice. Trump celebrated the ruling on Truth Social, arguing that the judge had given his team the opportunity to further detail what he described as repeated misconduct by The New York Times.
“The Highly Respected Judge has called for an updated complaint, which will lay out, in extreme detail, all the ways in which The Times has repeatedly and consistently acted, with actual malice in defaming me, my family, our Great MAGA Movement, and America, itself,” Trump wrote, adding that he intended to continue holding The New York Times and other media organizations accountable.
Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said the decision “makes no statement in support of [Trump's] frivolous accusations." Trump’s amended complaint is due August 27, after which the court will consider whether the case can proceed.
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