President Trump’s team refiled its lawsuit against the New York Times after a federal judge ruled the initial filing was too long.
The 40-page lawsuit, originally 85 pages, centers on defamation allegations.
“These breaches of journalistic ethics are further proven by the Times’ enthusiastic aiding and abetting of the partisan effort to falsely link Russian interference to President Trump’s victory in the 2016 Presidential Election, which is well on its way to becoming one of the most profoundly disturbing criminal political scandals in American history,” the new filing says.
It adds that the Times “possessed public and non-public information and had access to information which they knew to be accurate and proved their reporting wrong.”
“However, consistent with their long-term pattern and modus operandi—lie about President Trump when the truth does not fit their far-left agenda—they deliberately ignored this information and instead published the malicious, false and defamatory Book and the Articles as ‘hit pieces’ calculated to severely harm President Trump and his reputation, as they have done for at least a decade,” the filing states.
In September, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday tossed out President Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against the publication, criticizing its length.
Merryday asserted that a complaint must be a “short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact sufficient to create a facially plausible claim for relief and sufficient to permit the formulation of an informed response.” Instead of following these guidelines, Trump’s filing “stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8. This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner.”
