JUDGE DISMISSES TRUMP DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST MURDOCH, WALL STREET JOURNAL

A federal judge in Miami has dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal over its reporting on a purported birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. US District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed the amended complaint "with prejudice" on Saturday, in a 20-page ruling. Gayles found that Trump had again failed to plausibly allege that the Journal and its owner published the story with actual malice. "As with his first attempt, he has failed," Gayles wrote, adding that the amended complaint was "grasping at straws" in attempting to "manufacture flaws" with the investigation.

The lawsuit centred on a July 2025 article describing a sexually suggestive letter that the Journal reported bore Trump's name, included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday. Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, reportedly collected the letter years before Epstein's 2006 arrest and his falling-out with Trump. Trump has denied writing the letter and sought $10 billion in damages from Murdoch and the Journal, which Murdoch's News Corp owns. Gayles dismissed Trump's original complaint in April, allowing him to file the amended version he has now also rejected. Gayles said the Journal had conducted a "thoughtful and detailed investigation" and rejected Trump's argument that it should not have published the story once he denied writing the letter.

The dismissal with prejudice bars Trump from refiling the same claims against Murdoch and the Journal in federal court. Trump plans to appeal the ruling. Gayles did not determine in his ruling whether Trump actually wrote the letter, leaving that question unresolved by the court. The case marked the second time Trump had sued Murdoch and the Journal over the same story.