A federal judge has permanently shut down Republican President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed the case with prejudice on Saturday, blocking the president from refiling the same claims, according to the ruling. Gayles concluded that Trump failed to show the newspaper acted with actual malice, the standard for public figures in defamation cases.
The judge wrote that the president was "grasping at straws" in his attempt to find fault with the Journal's reporting, according to the decision. "The Amended Complaint falls short of pleading actual malice," Gayles wrote. (RELATED: Judge Makes 'Rarely, If Ever' Decision Over Trump Admin's Golf Course Tree-Felling)
A dismissal with prejudice bars Trump from bringing the same complaint again, according to CBS News. A person familiar with the legal strategy told the outlet an appeal is likely.
A federal judge threw out President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein. https://t.co/lgXv5TnMLO
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 31, 2026
Trump's lawyers showed no sign of retreat. "President Trump will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants," a spokesperson for the legal team told CBS News.
The fight began with a Journal article published July 17, 2025, according to the Associated Press (AP). The report described a sexually suggestive note that carried Trump's name inside a 2003 album for Epstein's 50th birthday. Trump denied any role in it. "This is not me. This is a fake thing," Trump told the Journal, The New York Times reported.
Trump sued in Miami federal court one day after the story ran, according to the AP. Gayles rejected the first version in April, finding the president came "nowhere close" to proving malice, CBS News reported. His team refiled in May. The amended complaint argued the Journal had been reckless by not explaining how its reporters received and verified the letter, the AP noted.
House lawmakers later subpoenaed Epstein's estate and secured a redacted copy of the birthday book that held the disputed letter, according to CBS News. Ghislaine Maxwell assembled the album and now sits in prison on a 20-year sentence for aiding Epstein's sex-trafficking scheme, the AP reported.
The suit also named News Corp, founder Rupert Murdoch, chief executive Robert Thomson, publisher Dow Jones and two Journal reporters, according to the Times.
Trump has filed similar claims against other outlets, with active cases against the BBC and The New York Times, the AP reported.
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