A federal judge in Florida dismissed President Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over a story linking him to Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump failed to adequately allege actual malice, but allowed an amended complaint. The decision came Monday following a July lawsuit prompted by the newspaper's report on a 2003 letter.
U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice on Monday, finding that Trump's complaint did not plausibly show the Journal published its article with actual malice, the standard required for public figures in defamation cases. The judge noted that the newspaper sought comment from Trump before publication and included his denial in the story. Questions about whether Trump authored the letter or was friends with Epstein remain factual issues for later stages, Gayles wrote. A Dow Jones spokesperson, publisher of the Journal, said the organization was pleased with the decision and stands behind its reporting's reliability and accuracy. Trump filed the suit in July after the Journal described a sexually suggestive letter bearing his signature in a 2003 birthday album for Epstein, compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell. The letter featured a drawing of a naked woman and the message, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” with imagined dialogue between “Donald” and “Jeffrey.” Trump has denied writing or signing it, calling the report “false, malicious, and defamatory.” The letter later surfaced publicly through congressional subpoenas of Epstein's estate records. Trump plans to refile an amended complaint by April 27, as he posted on Truth Social: “Our powerful case against The Wall Street Journal, and other defendants, was asked to be re-filed by the Judge. It is not a termination, it is a suggested re-filing, and we will be, as per the Order, re-filing an updated lawsuit on or before April 27th.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated it is “very clear” Trump neither drew nor signed the image. A forensic linguistic analysis reported by The Daily Wire, using AI on Trump's communications, found an extremely low probability he authored the note due to style mismatches.
