Judge throws out Trump's $10bn lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for good
A federal judge in Miami dismissed the defamation case over the newspaper's Epstein birthday letter story with prejudice, saying Trump again failed to show actual malice.
By Newsheir Staff, Newsroom
· 2 min read
In this article
A federal judge in Miami has dismissed President Donald Trump's $10bn defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, ruling for the second time that the president had failed to make a viable case.
Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed the suit on Saturday, October 31, this time "with prejudice", meaning Trump cannot refile the same claims in federal court.
The story at the centre of the case
The lawsuit concerned a Journal article published on July 17, 2025, which described a sexually suggestive birthday letter bearing Trump's name. The newspaper reported that it was included in a book of congratulatory letters compiled for the financier Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has denied writing it.
He sued the newspaper, its publisher Dow Jones, its parent company News Corp, and Murdoch personally.
Why the judge dismissed it
Because Trump is a public figure, US law requires him to show "actual malice": that the newspaper published something false either knowing it was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was true. The standard comes from the 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times v Sullivan and is a high bar by design, to protect reporting on powerful people.
Gayles first dismissed the case in April but allowed Trump to file an amended complaint. The new version argued the Journal had been reckless by not showing how its reporters obtained and verified the letter. The judge ruled that Trump again failed to plausibly allege actual malice.
The ruling did not decide whether Trump wrote the letter.
Trump's response
A spokesman said the president "will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants." He did not say whether Trump would appeal.
The wider picture
Trump has filed several large lawsuits against news organisations, including cases against the BBC and The New York Times, which are still pending. Press freedom groups say such suits are intended to intimidate journalists. Trump says he is holding the media accountable for false reporting.
The Journal's case is now one of the clearest tests of how those suits fare in court when they reach a judge's scrutiny.
Sources and references
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