A federal judge in the United States has dismissed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump against The Wall Street Journal over a controversial report linking him to a birthday card allegedly sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The ruling was delivered on Monday by U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, who found that Trump’s complaint failed to meet the strict legal standard required to prove defamation against a media organization.
In his decision, Gayles stated that the lawsuit “comes nowhere close” to satisfying the “actual malice” requirement, a key threshold in U.S. defamation law. Under this standard, a plaintiff must demonstrate that a publication made a false statement either knowing it was untrue or with reckless disregard for the truth.
The judge emphasized that the newspaper had taken steps to verify the story before publication. According to the ruling, the article detailed how journalists reached out to Trump, officials at the United States Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for comment prior to publishing the report.
“Quite the opposite,” Gayles wrote, rejecting Trump’s claims of negligence. “The Article explains that, before running the story, Defendants contacted President Trump, Justice Department officials, and the FBI for comment.”
He noted that Trump responded with a denial, while the Justice Department did not respond and the FBI declined to comment. The judge added that the publication also reviewed the alleged letter referenced in the story.
“Accordingly, President Trump’s conclusory allegation that Defendants had contradictory evidence and failed to investigate is rebutted by the Article and is insufficient to establish actual malice,” Gayles concluded.
The lawsuit, filed in July last year, came shortly after The Wall Street Journal published a report about a 2003 birthday album prepared for Epstein. The article claimed that the album appeared to contain a card attributed to Trump, who was known to have been part of Epstein’s social circle at the time.
According to the report, the card included a hand-drawn sketch of a nude woman, with what appeared to be Trump’s first name written in an intimate area, alongside a typed message imagining a conversation between Trump and Epstein.
Trump strongly denied any involvement with the card, and his legal team argued in the lawsuit that the newspaper had fabricated the story. The former president and his allies have repeatedly described the report as false and politically motivated.
However, developments following the publication added complexity to the case. Epstein’s estate later released a copy of a card matching the description provided by the newspaper, though Trump and the White House continued to insist that the document was not authentic.
Importantly, Judge Gayles made clear that his ruling did not determine whether Trump actually authored the card. Instead, the dismissal was based solely on the legal insufficiency of the defamation claim as presented.
“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,” the judge wrote.
Because the complaint failed to meet the required legal standard, the court declined to examine factual disputes surrounding the article’s accuracy. The judge stressed that without evidence of actual malice, the case could not proceed.
Gayles, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2014 by former President Barack Obama, dismissed the lawsuit “without prejudice.” This means Trump retains the right to refile the case if he can address the legal shortcomings identified by the court.
The judge granted Trump a two-week window to submit an amended complaint. In response, Trump’s legal team indicated that they intend to pursue the matter further.
In a statement, his representatives said they would refile the lawsuit in an effort to hold accountable “those who traffic in Fake News to mislead the American people.”
Meanwhile, Dow Jones & Company, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, welcomed the court’s decision. A company spokesperson expressed confidence in the publication’s reporting standards.
“We are pleased with the judge’s decision to dismiss this complaint. We stand behind the reliability, rigor and accuracy of The Wall Street Journal’s reporting,” the statement read.
The case also brought renewed attention to Trump’s past association with Epstein. The two men were known to have moved in the same social circles for more than a decade before their relationship reportedly ended in the early 2000s.
Trump has previously stated that he distanced himself from Epstein after viewing him as a “creep” and accusing him of inappropriate behavior, including allegedly recruiting staff members from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
The history between the two figures has been referenced in various public forums. Earlier this year, former President Bill Clinton told a congressional panel that he had discussed Epstein with Trump decades ago. According to Clinton, Trump had remarked that they had shared “great times” before falling out over a real estate dispute.
Epstein, once a wealthy and well-connected financier, pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor. He was later arrested again on federal sex-trafficking charges but died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
U.S. authorities, including the FBI and the Justice Department, have stated that Epstein exploited more than 1,000 women and girls over the course of his activities.
Despite his past association with Epstein, Trump has not been charged with any crime related to the case and has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The dismissal of the lawsuit marks a significant legal setback for Trump, though the possibility of a revised complaint means the dispute between the former president and the prominent newspaper may not be fully resolved.
