A federal judge in Florida on Monday dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, dealing another blow to the president’s efforts to challenge critical coverage tied to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Darrin P. Gayles, in the order, said Trump had failed at that stage of the case to make the argument required to show the Journal story was published with malicious intent, according to the Associated Press report. The judge dismissed the lawsuit but gave Trump a chance to file an amended complaint.
The lawsuit stems from a Wall Street Journal story that brought renewed attention to Trump’s relationship with Epstein, including reporting about a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s signature and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter and called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory,” the AP said.
Trump filed the lawsuit in July, following a promise to sue the Journal almost immediately after the paper published the new account, the AP report said. The reporting cited the letter’s later public release by Congress, which subpoenaed the records from Epstein’s estate.
In the court proceedings, attorneys for the Journal and Murdoch asked Gayles to rule that the article’s statements were true and therefore could not be defamatory. Gayles rejected that argument at this stage, writing 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,” according to the AP.
After the ruling, Trump posted on social media saying the decision was not the end of the case. Hours later, the AP reported, Trump said the decision “is not a termination” but rather a “suggested re-filing” of his “powerful case,” adding that it would be done “on or before April 27th.”
The AP said the ruling is another setback for the Trump administration as it faces legal fallout linked to the release of Epstein files and as it continues seeking to use the legal system to limit reporting it finds critical. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the AP report said.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the Journal’s publisher, said the company was “pleased” with the decision and added that it “stand[s] behind the reliability, rigor and accuracy of The Wall Street Journal’s reporting,” the AP said.