A federal judge in Miami on Saturday dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over the Journal’s July 2025 report describing a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump’s name in a 2003 album compiled for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump has denied writing the letter.
US District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump had failed to plausibly allege that the defendants acted with “actual malice”, the legal standard that applies in this kind of defamation case. The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be amended or refiled.
This was Trump’s second attempt at the claim. An earlier dismissal in April, without prejudice, had allowed him to file an amended complaint. The judge also rejected the argument that the Journal should have withheld the story after Trump’s denial, saying that approach would violate the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was reported as seeking $10 billion by AP and other outlets; CNN’s earlier version had put the figure at $20 billion. Dow Jones said it was pleased with the decision, while the White House referred CNN to Trump’s personal lawyers.
The featured image is an illustrative stock photograph of a US courthouse and is not a photograph of the Miami court proceedings.
Sources: CNN, 31 October 2026; AP via The Week, 1 November 2026.
