Judge throws out President Trump's defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
A federal judge in Washington has dismissed President Trump's defamation lawsuit over a Wall Street Journal story about a 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein, ruling the case dismissed with prejudice and shutting the door on another rewrite.
A federal judge in Washington dismissed President Trump's defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal with prejudice, ending the case and preventing any further amendment or re-filing. The decision follows an earlier dismissal in April that had allowed the complaint to be revised, underscoring how little traction the suit ever had in court. The lawsuit stemmed from a July 2025 article that claimed Trump sent a "bawdy" birthday letter to financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. President Trump denied the letter's authenticity, insisting it was fabricated.
Judge Darrin P. Gayles concluded that the amended complaint still failed to meet the "actual malice" standard required for public-figure defamation claims. > "As President Trump has not plausibly alleged that each Defendant made defamatory statements with actual malice, the Amended Complaint must be dismissed," the ruling stated, adding that dismissal with prejudice was appropriate given this was the second filing.
The Wall Street Journal and its parent company, News Corp., argued that the story was accurate and that reporters did not knowingly publish false information. A Dow Jones spokesperson said the court’s decision was welcomed. President Trump's legal team issued a statement saying the President will continue to pursue legal action against media outlets they consider to spread misinformation.
The case also named media proprietor Rupert Murdoch among the defendants. Prior to publication, President Trump reportedly contacted Murdoch in an attempt to halt the article, which was released under the headline describing the alleged letter as part of a "50th birthday album" for Epstein.