Dismissed lawsuit follows Wall Road Journal’s report on a letter allegedly signed by Trump for Epstein’s fiftieth birthday.
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A United States federal choose has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s $10bn defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and its proprietor Rupert Murdoch over a narrative on Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Miami-based US District Decide Darrin Gayles mentioned on Monday that Trump didn’t meet the “precise malice” customary that public figures should clear in defamation circumstances.
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Meaning public figures should show not solely {that a} public assertion about them was false, but additionally that the media outlet or one that made the assertion acted with reckless disregard for the reality or ought to have recognized that it was false.
“This criticism comes nowhere near this customary,” Gayles wrote. “Fairly the other.”
The choose famous that reporters from the Wall Road Journal (WSJ) reached out to Trump for remark beforehand and printed his denial. That allowed readers to resolve for themselves what to conclude, chopping in opposition to Trump’s assertion that the newspaper acted with precise malice, the choose mentioned.
Gayles mentioned Trump might file an amended model of the lawsuit by April 27.
In his lawsuit, Trump referred to as a birthday greeting that he allegedly despatched to Epstein, a convicted intercourse offender, a “pretend”. The US president sought $10bn for what he referred to as injury to his repute. Information Corp’s Dow Jones & Firm, the WSJ’s mother or father firm, defended the accuracy of its July 17, 2025 article.
Trump filed the lawsuit after promising to sue the paper nearly instantly after it put a brand new highlight on his well-documented relationship with Epstein by publishing an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper mentioned bore Trump’s signature and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s fiftieth birthday.
The letter was subsequently launched publicly by the US Congress, which subpoenaed the information from Epstein’s property.
The ruling marks one more blow within the Trump administration’s efforts to handle fallout over its launch of the Epstein information and the president’s makes an attempt to make use of the authorized system to curb reporting that he finds essential of him.
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request by AP for remark.
