{"id":161715,"date":"2026-08-28T14:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T22:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/28\/trump-trollsuit-against-new-york-times-damages-trollsuit-against-irs\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T14:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T22:06:06","slug":"trump-trollsuit-against-new-york-times-damages-trollsuit-against-irs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/28\/trump-trollsuit-against-new-york-times-damages-trollsuit-against-irs\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Trollsuit Against New York Times Damages Trollsuit Against IRS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has amended his defamation trollsuit against the New York Times. Now instead of being 40 pages<\/a> of incoherent gobbledygook, it\u2019s 62 pages<\/a> of incoherent gobbledygook. But don\u2019t worry, he\u2019s still seeking just $15 billion in damages. No extra charge for the additional pages!<\/p>\n

The lawsuit began inauspiciously, when Judge Stephen Merryday struck the original complaint<\/a> sua sponte<\/em> for standing \u201cunmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8.\u201d Trump\u2019s sparklemagic lawyer Alejandro Brito really put his back into that first draft<\/a>, which clocked in at a whopping 85 pages and included Trump\u2019s entire CV, including cameos on Wrestlemania V<\/em>, All My Children<\/em>, and The Nanny<\/em>. But it was not meant to be, and so Brito had to cut more than half of his delicious prose lauding \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s transcendent ability to defy wrongful conventions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s got to do real law \u2026 sort of<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The new complaint purports to establish actual malice by pointing to the source of Trump\u2019s leaked tax returns: former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn. Trump insists that Times reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner \u201cpurposefully avoided the truth by failing to independently verify whether the documents that Charles Littlejohn provided them with, and upon which they relied on for the challenged statements in the Book, were legitimate, accurate copies of President Trump\u2019s tax returns.\u201d<\/p>\n

This suggests but does not state as fact<\/em> that the leaked returns were fakes. This is somewhat in tension with the assertion that \u201cLittlejohn was charged with unlawfully stealing and disclosing President Trump\u2019s tax returns on September 29, 2023\u201d and thus the reporters \u201chad reason to doubt the accuracy\u201d of his documents. And it\u2019s deeply in tension with Trump\u2019s own claims in the lawsuit he filed against the IRS seeking billions of dollars in recompense for Littlejohn\u2019s unlawful disclosure. <\/p>\n

Either the returns were real, in which case the Times had every reason to rely on them. Or they weren\u2019t, and Trump and Brito just filed a fraudulent lawsuit against the IRS that led to the creation of the January 6 slush fund and blanket immunity for past tax crimes for Trump and his family. If the documents were fake, then the settlement must be invalid, right?<\/p>\n

This is obviously the least of the problem with this dumpster fire of a defamation suit. This is a document which argues that it\u2019s defamatory to report that \u201cTrump\u2019s desk showed no signs of real work\u2014no computer, contracts, or files. It was just smothered by newspaper and magazine articles focused on one subject: himself.\u201d But it is yet another sign of the deeply unserious lawyering by the president as he bleeds journalists with endless rounds of pointless litigation.<\/p>\n

Pity poor Judge Merryday and his clerks!<\/p>\n

Trump v. NY Times<\/a>\u00a0[Docket via Court Listener]<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

\n

\n

The post Trump Trollsuit Against New York Times Damages Trollsuit Against IRS<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has amended his defamation trollsuit against the New York Times. Now instead of being 40 pages<\/a> of incoherent gobbledygook, it\u2019s 62 pages<\/a> of incoherent gobbledygook. But don\u2019t worry, he\u2019s still seeking just $15 billion in damages. No extra charge for the additional pages!<\/p>\n

The lawsuit began inauspiciously, when Judge Stephen Merryday struck the original complaint<\/a> sua sponte<\/em> for standing \u201cunmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8.\u201d Trump\u2019s sparklemagic lawyer Alejandro Brito really put his back into that first draft<\/a>, which clocked in at a whopping 85 pages and included Trump\u2019s entire CV, including cameos on Wrestlemania V<\/em>, All My Children<\/em>, and The Nanny<\/em>. But it was not meant to be, and so Brito had to cut more than half of his delicious prose lauding \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s transcendent ability to defy wrongful conventions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s got to do real law \u2026 sort of<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The new complaint purports to establish actual malice by pointing to the source of Trump\u2019s leaked tax returns: former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn. Trump insists that Times reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner \u201cpurposefully avoided the truth by failing to independently verify whether the documents that Charles Littlejohn provided them with, and upon which they relied on for the challenged statements in the Book, were legitimate, accurate copies of President Trump\u2019s tax returns.\u201d<\/p>\n

This suggests but does not state as fact<\/em> that the leaked returns were fakes. This is somewhat in tension with the assertion that \u201cLittlejohn was charged with unlawfully stealing and disclosing President Trump\u2019s tax returns on September 29, 2023\u201d and thus the reporters \u201chad reason to doubt the accuracy\u201d of his documents. And it\u2019s deeply in tension with Trump\u2019s own claims in the lawsuit he filed against the IRS seeking billions of dollars in recompense for Littlejohn\u2019s unlawful disclosure. <\/p>\n

Either the returns were real, in which case the Times had every reason to rely on them. Or they weren\u2019t, and Trump and Brito just filed a fraudulent lawsuit against the IRS that led to the creation of the January 6 slush fund and blanket immunity for past tax crimes for Trump and his family. If the documents were fake, then the settlement must be invalid, right?<\/p>\n

This is obviously the least of the problem with this dumpster fire of a defamation suit. This is a document which argues that it\u2019s defamatory to report that \u201cTrump\u2019s desk showed no signs of real work\u2014no computer, contracts, or files. It was just smothered by newspaper and magazine articles focused on one subject: himself.\u201d But it is yet another sign of the deeply unserious lawyering by the president as he bleeds journalists with endless rounds of pointless litigation.<\/p>\n

Pity poor Judge Merryday and his clerks!<\/p>\n

Trump v. NY Times<\/a>\u00a0[Docket via Court Listener]<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

\n

\n

The post Trump Trollsuit Against New York Times Damages Trollsuit Against IRS<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has amended his defamation trollsuit against the New York Times. Now instead of being 40 pages of incoherent gobbledygook, it\u2019s 62 pages of incoherent gobbledygook. But don\u2019t worry, he\u2019s still seeking just $15 billion in damages. No extra charge for the additional pages! The lawsuit began inauspiciously, when Judge Stephen Merryday struck the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":161716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/law-and-chaos-logo-liz-dye-300x153-3GBNrt.jpg?fit=300%2C153&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}