A federal judge in Miami has dismissed, with prejudice, President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and several of its associated parties, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and News Corp executives. The ruling marks the second time the case has been rejected by U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, effectively barring Trump from refiling the suit.
The lawsuit stemmed from a 2025 article published by The Wall Street Journal, which reported the existence of a sexually suggestive birthday letter purportedly sent by Trump to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. The letter, included in a birthday album compiled by Epstein’s former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, featured typewritten text inside an outline of a naked woman and concluded with the phrase, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has consistently denied authoring or signing the letter, asserting that the story was fabricated and defamatory.
Judge Gayles found that Trump failed to meet the legal standard of “actual malice,” required for defamation claims involving public figures. Actual malice demands that the plaintiff prove the defendants knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. The judge criticized Trump’s amended complaint for presenting vague, conclusory, and inconsistent allegations that did not substantiate claims of malice. The ruling also noted the article included Trump’s explicit denial of the letter’s authenticity, underscoring the newspaper’s adherence to journalistic standards and the protections afforded under the First Amendment.
“This is not the law,” Judge Gayles wrote, referring to Trump’s argument that journalists should refrain from publishing stories when public figures deny accusations. The judge emphasized that such a precedent would unduly restrict free press.
The lawsuit named as defendants Dow Jones, the Journal’s publisher; News Corp and its top executives, including Murdoch; and two Journal reporters. Trump’s legal team contended that the newspaper failed to verify key details of the letter’s origins and focused on the suggestion that the piece was part of an effort to damage Trump’s reputation and cause financial harm. However, the defendants argued that their reporting was accurate, based on extensive investigation, and legally protected.
Following the dismissal, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team declared the president would appeal the decision and continue pursuing the case against The Wall Street Journal and the other defendants. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Dow Jones expressed satisfaction with the ruling.
This suit is one among several defamation lawsuits and other legal actions initiated by Trump or his affiliated entities against various media outlets since his return to the White House. Previous cases filed by Trump against The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the BBC have also encountered judicial setbacks on similar grounds.
The Epstein connection remains a point of public interest, as Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The materials, including the birthday album cited in the Journal’s article, were later submitted to Congressional committees, lending some public record context to the reporting.
Judge Gayles’s dismissal reaffirms the high threshold for defamation claims by public figures and underscores the ongoing tensions between Trump and the news media during his presidency.