Judge tosses Trump suit
A judge dismissed President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over reporting about Epstein ties, according to social updates. (x.com) The ruling closes that particular civil challenge against the newspaper’s coverage, as reported in the timeline of recent legal developments. (x.com)
A federal judge in Miami dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its Epstein reporting. (cnbc.com) United States District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled on Monday, April 13, 2026, that Trump did not plausibly show “actual malice,” the standard public figures must meet in libel cases. The dismissal was without prejudice, and Gayles gave Trump until April 27 to file an amended complaint. (abcnews.com) The case grew out of a Wall Street Journal article published on July 17, 2025, that said Trump’s name appeared on a 2003 birthday message for Jeffrey Epstein. Trump sued Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and two Journal reporters the next day, seeking at least $10 billion and calling the letter “fake.” (usnews.com) Gayles said Trump’s complaint failed to show the paper knowingly published false information or recklessly avoided checking the story. The judge wrote that the article itself showed the Journal sought comment from Trump, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation before publication. (cnbc.com) That legal test comes from the Supreme Court’s 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, which requires public officials and public figures to prove a publisher either knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Gayles said Trump “comes nowhere close” to that bar in the complaint he filed. (abcnews.com) The ruling does not decide whether the alleged birthday letter is authentic. Gayles said only that Trump’s filing, as written, did not support a defamation claim strong enough to move forward. (cnbc.com) The underlying article became harder to contain in September 2025, when the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released records from Epstein’s estate, including the so-called birthday book. Democrats on the committee separately posted an image of the letter they said bore Trump’s name, and Trump again denied any connection to it. (oversight.house.gov) Dow Jones has defended the Journal’s reporting as accurate. After Monday’s ruling, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said Trump would follow the judge’s guidance and refile an amended lawsuit. (usnews.com)
