FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit towards The Wall Avenue Journal and Rupert Murdoch has been dismissed by a federal decide.
| Picture Credit score:
Jonathan Ernst
A federal decide has thrown out President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit towards The Wall Avenue Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over a narrative reporting on his ties to rich financier Jeffrey Epstein.
US District Choose Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed the swimsuit with prejudice on Saturday, ruling that the president didn’t show the defendants made defamatory statements with precise malice.
The ruling stated the lawsuit was “greedy at straws” because it tried to “manufacture” flaws within the Journal’s investigative reporting.
When a case is thrown out “with prejudice,” it can’t be refiled once more and the dismissal is everlasting and incontrovertible.
Lawsuit centred on alleged letter in Epstein’s birthday album
The lawsuit was over a narrative the Journal printed final 12 months describing a sexually suggestive letter that the paper stated bore Trump’s title and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s fiftieth birthday.
The letter was reportedly collected by disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell as a part of a birthday album for Epstein years earlier than he was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently had a falling-out with Trump.
The letter bearing Trump’s title contains textual content framed by the define of what seems to be a hand-drawn bare girl and ends with, “Completely satisfied Birthday — and will day-after-day be one other great secret,” in accordance with the newspaper.
Trump denied writing it and referred to as the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
Trump alleged monetary and reputational hurt
The lawsuit, filed in federal court docket in Miami, accused the paper and its reporters of getting “knowingly and recklessly” printed “quite a few false, defamatory, and disparaging statements,” which, it alleged, induced “overwhelming monetary and reputational hurt” to the president.
Revealed on November 1, 2026