A federal judge has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch. Judge Darrin P. Gayles said Trump failed to meet the “actual malice” standard required for public figures in defamation cases — proving a statement was false and that the publisher knew or should have known it was false.
“This complaint comes nowhere close to this standard,” Gayles wrote in a ruling released Monday local time. He added that the Journal’s reporters contacted Trump for comment and printed his denial, allowing readers to decide and undermining Trump’s claim of actual malice. The ruling did not determine whether the article’s allegations were true.
Trump filed the suit in July 2025 over a Journal article about a birthday book compiled for the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The piece reported that a card containing sexually suggestive text and a marker sketch of a female figure bore Trump’s signature. Trump and his attorneys have maintained the card is fake.
After the ruling, Trump said he would file an updated complaint by April 27, the deadline set by the judge for an amended suit.
Trump’s ties to Epstein returned to the headlines after Melania Trump held a press conference denying connections to Epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges at the time of his death.
Trump has also brought multiple defamation suits during his presidency against major news organizations, drawing concern from press-freedom advocates who say he may be using litigation to suppress critical coverage. Most recently he sued the BBC in November 2025 over allegedly misleading editing of a speech. He has also sued the New York Times and an Iowa newspaper; all have denied wrongdoing.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
