Judge Throws Out Trump’s $10 Billion WSJ Defamation Suit Over Epstein Birthday Letter
A federal judge has dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its reporting on a disgusting birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein.
US District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump failed to plausibly allege the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper acted with “actual malice” when it reported the story. The dismissal came without prejudice, Trump’s legal team now has until April 27 to file an amended complaint addressing the judge’s concerns.
In order to proceed, Gayles wrote, Trump must adequately allege that the Journal knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. The original complaint instead relied on “formulaic” claims about malice — coming “nowhere close” to the court’s standards.
The case stems from a July 2025 Journal investigation. Reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo described the contents of a book of compiled letters from Epstein’s friends for his 50th birthday in 2003, highlighting a letter allegedly from Trump which included a drawing of a naked woman and a “Donald” signature. Trump sued one day after publication, seeking not less than $10 billion on two counts of defamation.
In its motion to dismiss, the Journal argued the first reason the suit should be thrown out was simple: “the article is true.” Two weeks after publication, in response to a congressional subpoena, Epstein’s estate produced the birthday book, which contained the letter exactly as the Journal had reported.
The Journal also argued that even if Trump had written the letter, it wouldn’t constitute defamation. Its attorneys challenged the notion that the article could have damaged Trump’s reputation, noting that he had “publicly admitted to ‘locker room talk’ and has made numerous bawdy public statements,” as well as to his relationship with Epstein.
The ruling arrives amid a broader pattern of Trump legal action against major media. The WSJ’s motion to dismiss came days after a federal judge tossed Trump’s $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times, calling it “tedious and burdensome” and saying that a complaint is not “a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”
The WSJ case had also taken a personal dimension, with Trump publicly accusing Murdoch of failing to stop the story’s publication despite a direct warning. Trump posted that Murdoch “stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so.” The court had assigned the case to Judge Gayles, the same judge who presided over Trump’s prior breach-of-contract suit against his former lawyer Michael Cohen, which Trump dropped shortly after Gayles scheduled a deposition requiring Trump to answer questions under oath.
The judge should have issued a “with prejudice” order, thus avoiding more taxpayer monies being spent on this farcical administration.