Judge dismisses Trump's lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal

A federal judge has thrown out President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, its owner and media executive Rupert Murdoch over a story about the president's past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

The suit, which sought $10 billion in damages, targeted a 2025 article reporting that Trump had sent Epstein a birthday letter in 2003. Trump has denied writing the letter and called the story false.

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice, which means it cannot be filed again in the same form. He ruled that Trump had not plausibly shown actual malice, the legal standard public figures must meet in defamation cases, which requires proof that a publisher knew a story was false or recklessly ignored the truth. The judge wrote that the lawsuit was grasping at straws in trying to find flaws in the newspaper's reporting.

Trump's legal team said it would appeal.

The ruling is the latest setback in Trump's legal fights with news organizations. He has filed several large lawsuits against media outlets in recent years, and some companies have chosen to settle.