Judge throws out Trump's lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday letter for good
A federal judge in Miami has dismissed with prejudice Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its report on a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein, meaning the case cannot be filed again. The judge ruled that the president had not shown the paper acted with actual malice. Trump's lawyers said they would keep fighting, and an appeal is expected.
In a 20-page ruling issued on Saturday, 31 October, US District Judge Darrin Gayles said the lawsuit was "grasping at straws" in trying to "manufacture" flaws in the newspaper's investigative reporting. Public figures who sue for defamation must prove "actual malice": that the publisher knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for whether it was true. Gayles had already dismissed the case in April, saying Trump came "nowhere close" to that standard; the president's lawyers then filed it again.
The case concerns a Journal story published in 2025 about a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump's name that the paper said was included in an album compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. Trump called the story fake and sued the paper, its owner News Corp, its chief executive, the two reporters and Rupert Murdoch, seeking billions of dollars in damages. House lawmakers later obtained a redacted copy of the birthday book from Epstein's estate, which included the letter; the White House said Trump did not draw the picture or sign it.
"President Trump will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants," a spokesperson for his legal team told CBS News. A source familiar with the strategy said the decision is likely to be appealed.