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Judge dismisses Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit over Epstein birthday card story
Confirmed
In Short: The lawsuit, which sought $10 billion in damages, was over a story published by the Journal in July 2025 describing a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the paper said bore Trump's name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday.
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Monday, ruling that Trump's legal team failed to prove the defendants acted with 'actual malice.'
Judge Gayles had previously dismissed the defamation lawsuit in 2025, which sought $20 billion in damages.
The ruling was handed down as the Trump administration faced intense bipartisan criticism over the summer for its handling of Epstein documents.
The letter was subsequently released publicly by Congress, which subpoenaed the records from Epstein’s estate.
The ruling also comes ahead of the midterm elections, where Democrats have reportedly spent more than $35 million on Epstein-related advertising.
Trump's legal team argued that the Journal's reporting was false and malicious, but Judge Gayles found that the plaintiffs did not meet the high legal bar required for defamation suits brought by public figures.
The judge's decision underscores the difficulty of proving actual malice in defamation cases involving public figures, especially when the reporting is based on publicly available documents.
The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again.
The ruling comes as Democrats are spending heavily on Epstein-related advertising ahead of the midterm elections.
The letter in question was released publicly by Congress after subpoenaing Epstein’s estate records.
Background
A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over a story about a birthday letter allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein.
A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over a story about a birthday letter allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein.
What's confirmed
- In his 20-page ruling, Gayles noted the paper's "thoughtful and detailed investigation" that led to the story and said the lawsuit was "grasping at straws" to "manufacture flaws" in their work.
- A man signs a 10-foot-tall protest art installation mocking Trump's alleged letter to Epstein at the National Mall in Washington, DC earlier this year The judge wrote that Trump's legal team did not prove that the defendants made defamatory statements with "actual malice", which the law requires be proven.
- Gayles had already once dismissed the defamation lawsuit, which sought $20 billion in damages.
- The news outlet's story about Epstein's 50th birthday book, external - and the letter with Trump's name - came as the Trump administration battled intense bipartisan criticism over the summer for its handling of Epstein documents.
- Trump's team refiled the suit seeking $10 billion, and this time, the judge threw out the case "with prejudice," meaning the suit cannot be filed again.
- Judge Darrin Gayles threw out the case, finding the suit runs counter to the First Amendment, which protects freedom of the press.
- A federal judge on Saturday dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch with prejudice, rejecting his amended challenge to the newspaper’s reporting on a purported birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein.
- U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami said the president was "grasping at straws," ruling that Trump did not prove that the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice, proof of which would be required to prevail.
- The lawsuit against the Journal was over a story it published last year describing a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the paper said bore Trump's name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday.
- READ MORE: Trump mired in Epstein controversy as Wall Street Journal reports on 2003 letter Trump denied writing it and called the story "false, malicious, and defamatory."
What's still developing
- Trump had sued the media outlet's parent company Dow Jones and its leader Rupert Murdoch last year after it reported on a letter allegedly written by Trump to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as part of a birthday book in 2003, before Epstein was charged with sex crimes.
- Trump alleged that the letter obtained and released by the Journal, which features his signature at the bottom, was "fake" and that the defendants devised the story in order to defame him.
- Trump sued for $10 billion after the newspaper published its story in July 2025 about the alleged 2003 letter, which reportedly featured a drawing of a naked woman.
- Trump initially filed the defamation suit in July 2025 over a report on Trump’s alleged “bawdy” birthday message to Epstein in 2003, which the president claimed was “ a FAKE letter. ” The president denied writing the letter, and sued the publication for $10 billion in damages.
- A federal judge has thrown out Donald Trump’s second attempt to sue The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch, and the journalists and publishers who reported on his alleged birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which the president claims does not exist.