President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal was dismissed on April 13, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles, who ruled that Trump had not plausibly alleged the newspaper acted with “actual malice” when it reported on a sexually suggestive birthday letter bearing his name that was sent to Jeffrey Epstein. The dismissal was without prejudice, and Trump’s legal team refiled an amended complaint on May 27, 2026, adding new allegations aimed at the exact defect the judge identified. The Journal has since moved to dismiss the amended version.
What the Journal Published
On July 17, 2025, reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo published a story describing a leather-bound album that Ghislaine Maxwell compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. The album contained letters from dozens of Epstein’s associates. The Journal reported that one letter bore Trump’s name, included a hand-drawn illustration of a naked woman, and contained the phrase, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”1The Wall Street Journal. Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album The album’s pages had been examined by Justice Department officials during earlier investigations into Epstein and Maxwell.2Pulitzer.org. Wall Street Journal, Work Led by Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo
Trump denied writing the letter, calling it “a fake thing” and saying, “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”2Pulitzer.org. Wall Street Journal, Work Led by Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo The Journal included his denial in the article. He sued the next day, on July 18, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, seeking at least $10 billion and a jury trial. The complaint named Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, and the two reporters.3NBC News. Trump Sues Wall Street Journal’s Publisher, Reporters Over Epstein Article
Why the Judge Threw the Case Out
Because Trump is a public figure, his defamation claim was governed by the standard the Supreme Court set in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in 1964. That standard requires a plaintiff to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the publisher either knew the challenged statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for whether it was false.4Congress.gov. First Amendment: Public Officials, Public Figures, and Actual Malice
Judge Gayles found that Trump’s original 18-page complaint did not clear that bar even at the pleading stage. He described the malice allegations as “formulaic” and said they came “nowhere close” to what the law demands. He pointed to two features of the Journal’s own reporting that cut against a reckless-disregard theory: the article included Trump’s denial, and the reporters had sought comment from the White House, the Justice Department, and the FBI before publishing. “Because President Trump has not plausibly alleged that Defendants published the Article with actual malice, both Counts must be dismissed,” the judge wrote.5ABC News. Judge Throws Out Trump’s $10B Lawsuit Against WSJ Over Epstein Reporting
A secondary claim for defamation per quod, which requires a plaintiff to identify concrete financial harm, was dismissed because Trump alleged no specific losses.6JURIST. Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Defamation Lawsuit Against Wall Street Journal, Grants Leave to Amend
One thing the ruling did not do is decide whether the letter was authentic. Judge Gayles wrote that “whether President Trump was the author of the Letter or Epstein’s friend are questions of fact that cannot be determined at this stage of the litigation.”7NPR. Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit Over Epstein Letter WSJ Story The defendants had asked the court to declare the article’s statements true. The judge said that was premature.
Why “Without Prejudice” Mattered
A dismissal without prejudice ends the case as filed but lets the plaintiff try again. A dismissal with prejudice functions as a final judgment on the merits and blocks the claim for good. Judge Gayles chose the softer of the two, giving Trump until April 27, 2026, to file a corrected complaint.8CNN. Trump WSJ Lawsuit Over Epstein Dismissed by Judge The court also denied the Journal’s request for attorneys’ fees under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute at that stage, without prejudice, and granted the defendants leave to renew the motion later.9FindLaw. Trump v. Murdoch
The Amended Complaint
Trump’s lawyers refiled on May 27, 2026, roughly a month past the judge’s original deadline. The new complaint runs seven pages longer than the first and is built around allegations meant to satisfy the actual-malice pleading standard.10The New York Times. Trump WSJ Defamation Suit $10 Billion
The centerpiece is a phone call. According to the amended complaint, after Journal reporters contacted the White House on July 15, 2025, Trump called Rupert Murdoch to object to the impending story, and Murdoch responded, “I will handle it.” Trump’s lawyers say he “reasonably interpreted” that as an assurance that Murdoch believed him and that the story would not run.11Reuters. Trump Refiles $10 Billion Defamation Suit Against WSJ Over Report on Epstein Ties
The refiled complaint also invokes Ghislaine Maxwell, who is said to have told a federal official she had “no recollection” of any such letter from Trump. Trump’s lawyers argue that the two people best positioned to confirm the letter’s existence — Trump himself and Maxwell — both disclaimed knowledge of it, and that the Journal’s reporters “deliberately avoided investigating” that fact. The filing further contends that “no authentic letter or drawing exists” and alleges the Journal omitted Trump’s denial.12The Guardian. Trump Refiles $10 Billion Lawsuit Against WSJ Over Report on Alleged Epstein Ties
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team called the refiled case a “powerhouse lawsuit,” and attorney Alejandro Brito said the defendants “ignored concerns about accuracy and avoided finding the truth.”13Yahoo Finance. Trump Revives $10B Defamation Battle
Before refiling, Trump’s lawyers had also asked Judge Gayles to allow limited discovery so they could gather documents and testimony before drafting the amended complaint. The judge called that request “improper” and denied it, holding that letting a plaintiff dig for evidence to plead actual malice would undermine the purpose of the standard.12The Guardian. Trump Refiles $10 Billion Lawsuit Against WSJ Over Report on Alleged Epstein Ties
The Journal’s Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint
Dow Jones and the other defendants have moved to dismiss again. Their filing calls the amended complaint a “re-package” of claims already rejected, arguing that it “does not remedy any of the defects identified in the court’s dismissal order. In fact, it compounds them.”14Deadline. Trump Wall Street Journal Lawsuit Dismiss Motion
The defense makes three main points. First, “failure to investigate is not actual malice,” and the article itself shows the reporters did investigate. Second, the story carries no defamatory meaning: “there is nothing defamatory about a person sending a bawdy note to a friend.” Third, on the omitted-denial claim, the Journal dedicated three paragraphs of the article to Trump’s categorical disavowal.14Deadline. Trump Wall Street Journal Lawsuit Dismiss Motion
The defendants have also renewed their request for attorneys’ fees under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute and asked the court to stay discovery, including a proposed deposition of Rupert Murdoch, while the motion is pending. A Dow Jones spokeswoman said the company has “full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”2Pulitzer.org. Wall Street Journal, Work Led by Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo
Where the Case Stands
The amended complaint is now the operative pleading, and the Journal’s second motion to dismiss is before Judge Gayles. He faces the same threshold question he answered in April, now with a phone call, a Maxwell statement, and additional argument in the mix: has Trump plausibly alleged that Journal reporters and their editors published the letter story either knowing it was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was? If the judge again answers no, he can dismiss with prejudice or grant another chance to amend. If he answers yes, the case proceeds toward discovery, where the requested deposition of Murdoch would become live.
The WSJ case sits inside a wider litigation push by Trump against major news organizations. Some of those matters have settled, notably ABC News in December 2024 and Paramount, the parent of CBS, in July 2025; others, against The New York Times, the BBC, CNN, the Pulitzer Prize Board, and pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register, have been dismissed, refiled, or remain pending in various postures.15Politico. Donald Trump Media Lawsuits The common legal thread across the media cases is the Sullivan actual malice standard, and the Journal case is now the clearest test of whether an amended pleading can survive it.