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A federal judge in Miami has dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over a story about a sexually suggestive letter Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003.
Some shit you should know before you dig in: If you’re unaware, Trump filed the lawsuit back in July after the Journal ran a story describing a letter with what appeared to be Trump’s signature, featuring a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman and a message reading “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The letter was part of a birthday album compiled by Epstein’s then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. Trump denied writing the letter, calling it “a fake thing,” and sued the Journal, two of its reporters, Rupert Murdoch, News Corp CEO Robert Thompson, and the Journal’s publisher Dow Jones for $10 billion in damages. A copy of the birthday album, including the letter the Journal described, was later released to the House Oversight Committee after a subpoena to Epstein’s estate.
What’s going on now: US District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed Trump’s lawsuit Monday, ruling that the president failed to show the Journal published the story with “actual malice” (the legal standard public figures have to clear in defamation cases). Under that standard, Trump would need to prove the Journal either knew the story was false or ran it with reckless disregard for the truth.
Gayles pointed out that Journal reporters contacted Trump for comment before publishing, printed his denial in the article, and reached out to the Justice Department and FBI (all of which undercut any argument that the paper was deliberately dodging the truth). The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning Trump’s team has until April 27 to refile with an amended complaint.
A spokeswoman for Dow Jones said, “We are pleased with the judge’s decision to dismiss this complaint. We stand behind the reliability, rigor and accuracy of The Wall Street Journal’s reporting.”
This all comes as Trump continues waging legal battles against multiple news outlets. He’s filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times, four of its reporters, and book publisher Penguin Random House over a series of articles he claims damaged his reputation as a “successful businessman.”
He’s also suing the BBC for $10 billion over a Panorama documentary that spliced together separate parts of his January 6, 2021 speech to make it look like he directly called for violence before his supporters stormed the Capitol. The BBC apologized for the edit and two top executives resigned over the fallout, but Trump still sued.
