A federal judge in Miami on Monday dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, News Corp, and Rupert Murdoch over the newspaper’s reporting on a sexually suggestive birthday letter linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
The case centered on a Wall Street Journal report about a 2003 birthday album prepared for Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender whose long list of elite associates has remained a matter of public scrutiny for years. The newspaper reported that the album included a “bawdy” letter bearing Trump’s name and signature. Trump has repeatedly denied writing the note, and argued that the Journal’s reporting falsely tied him to material he says he never created.
U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump had come “nowhere close” to plausibly showing the defendants acted with the “actual malice” required for a public figure to win a defamation claim, although the judge allowed him to try again with an amended complaint by April 27.
In dismissing the complaint, Gayles did not rule on whether the letter was authentic. Instead, he focused on the higher legal bar Trump had to clear as a public figure. The judge found the complaint did not adequately allege that the Journal knowingly published false information or recklessly disregarded the truth. Gayles also pointed to the fact that the newspaper sought comment from Trump before publication and included his denial, a detail that undercut the argument that the defendants acted with reckless disregard.
In U.S. defamation law, public officials and public figures must show actual malice, not simply that a story was damaging or disputed. Gayles’ ruling means Trump’s lawsuit failed at this stage because it did not present enough to plausibly meet that demanding constitutional standard. The dismissal was issued without prejudice, which leaves the door open for Trump’s legal team to file a revised complaint rather than ending the fight altogether.
Trump and his allies quickly signaled that the legal battle is not over, writing on Truth Social that “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. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The ruling also lands at a politically charged moment because information related to Epstein continues to draw heavy attention across Washington and the press. The original Journal story became even more prominent after congressional Democrats later released material connected to the birthday book. Still, the judge’s order was not a declaration that every disputed detail in the article was proven true.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones issued a statement saying they “are pleased with the ruling and affirmed that it stands by “the reliability, rigor and accuracy of The Wall Street Journal’s reporting.”
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