Litigation: Judge permanently dismisses Trump's $10 billion suit against Wall Street Journal

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Saturday. The judge ruled with prejudice, a legal designation that makes the dismissal permanent and prevents the case from being refiled. Gayles stated that the president did not demonstrate that the defendants published defamatory statements with actual malice, a standard required by law for public figures. The ruling described the lawsuit as an attempt to manufacture flaws in the newspaper's investigative reporting.

The legal battle traces back to a story The Wall Street Journal published in 2025. The article detailed a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the paper identified as bearing Trump's name. The document was part of a 2003 birthday album compiled for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former associate, reportedly collected the letter. The text was framed by an outline of a hand-drawn naked woman and ended with the phrase, Happy Birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Trump denied writing the letter and labeled the reporting false, malicious, and defamatory. His legal team filed the suit in federal court in Miami, accusing the Journal and its reporters of knowingly and recklessly publishing numerous false statements. The complaint alleged that the coverage caused overwhelming financial and reputational harm to the president. The Journal noted in its defense that it informed readers that Trump decried the letter as a fake and denied writing it.

The case has a procedural history that spans the first half of 2026. Judge Gayles first dismissed the suit in April, finding that Trump failed to make the argument that the article was published with malicious intent. The judge allowed the president to file an amended complaint, which Trump submitted in May. Saturday's final decision cited the Supreme Court's 1964 ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. That precedent requires proof that a media outlet knowingly published false information or showed reckless disregard for the truth.

In his written ruling, Gayles stated that the amended complaint fell short of pleading actual malice. The judge described the allegations as conclusory and vague, noting that they were sometimes inconsistent with the article and often irrelevant to whether defendants knew the statements were false. He also found that several other allegations in the lawsuit lacked merit. The White House did not immediately react publicly to the decision or respond to a request for comment.

The dismissal is part of a wider pattern of legal conflict between the Trump administration and news organizations. The president has pursued adversarial relationships with multiple outlets during his second term. He is currently embroiled in lawsuits involving the BBC, The Associated Press, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. The latter group is suing for restored White House access after the president banished them from the building in mid-September. Trump has frequently denounced media outlets that publish stories he objects to, often referring to them as fake news.

The outcome leaves Trump without a federal legal avenue to challenge this specific Journal article in the same court. The ruling stands as a final determination on the merits of the defamation claim regarding the Epstein birthday letter.