A federal judge in Miami has dismissed a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The lawsuit was filed over a story published by the Journal last year, which reported on Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. US District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Trump did not prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice as required by law.
The story in question reported on a sexually suggestive letter that bore Trump's name 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 lawsuit accused the Journal and its reporters of having "knowingly and recklessly" published "numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements," which caused "overwhelming financial and reputational harm" to Trump.
Judge Gayles previously dismissed the suit in April, saying Trump had failed to make the argument that the article was published with the intent to be malicious. However, he gave Trump a chance to file an amended complaint, which he did in May. In Saturday's ruling, Gayles cited the Supreme Court's landmark 1964 ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which made it harder for public figures to win libel lawsuits.
The dismissal of the lawsuit is a blow to Trump and his administration, which have pursued adversarial relationships with news organizations during his second term. Trump is embroiled in lawsuits involving the BBC, The Associated Press, and CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, which are suing him for restored access after he banished them from the White House in mid-September.
The White House did not immediately react publicly to Saturday's dismissal or respond to a request for comment. Trump has denounced media outlets that write things to which he objects and frequently calls them "fake news" and insults their journalists. The dismissal of the lawsuit is a significant development in the ongoing feud between Trump and the media.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Ghislaine Maxwell, a disgraced British socialite, collected the letter bearing Trump's name as part of a birthday album for Epstein years before he was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently had a falling-out with Trump.
The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled again and the dismissal is permanent and incontrovertible. The ruling stated that the lawsuit had attempted to "manufacture" flaws in the Journal's investigative reporting. The Journal's story did not ignore or minimize Trump's denial, but rather informed readers that Trump decried the letter as fake and denied writing it.
Key points
- The lawsuit was dismissed due to lack of evidence of actual malice by the defendants.
- The dismissal is a significant development in the ongoing feud between Trump and the media.
- The ruling cited the Supreme Court's landmark 1964 ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
