Judge permanently drops Trump's $10 billion Wall Street Journal case

A federal judge in Miami has permanently dismissed Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch. U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled on Saturday that the case could not be refiled, ending a legal battle over the newspaper's reporting on the president's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The decision leaves the White House without a remedy in this specific dispute.

The core of the legal fight centered on a story published last year. The Journal reported on a sexually suggestive letter and a drawing that bore Trump's name. The items were part of a 2003 album compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday. Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021, collected the material for the album years before Epstein's first arrest in 2006. The letter, framed by an outline of a naked woman, ended with the phrase "Happy Birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret."

Trump denied writing the letter. He called the newspaper's coverage false, malicious, and defamatory. His lawyers argued that the paper and its reporters knowingly and recklessly published false statements. They claimed this conduct caused overwhelming financial and reputational harm to the president. The lawsuit sought $10 billion in damages from the publication and its owner.

Judge Gayles found that the plaintiff did not meet the high legal standard for actual malice. The ruling referenced the 1964 Supreme Court decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. That precedent requires public figures to prove that a media outlet knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Gayles wrote that the amended complaint failed to plead this requirement. He described the allegations as conclusory, vague, and often inconsistent with the article itself.

The judge also noted that the newspaper did not hide Trump's denial. The story informed readers that the president decried the letter as a fake and denied writing it. Gayles stated that the lawsuit attempted to manufacture flaws in the investigative reporting. He dismissed several other allegations in the filing as lacking merit.

This is the second time the judge has thrown out the case. He initially dismissed the suit in April 2026. He allowed Trump to file an amended complaint, which was submitted in May. The Saturday ruling makes the dismissal final and permanent. The president cannot refile the same claims in court.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the ruling. The dismissal follows a pattern of legal clashes between the administration and news organizations. Trump has previously sued the BBC and The Associated Press. More recently, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are suing the White House to restore their press access after the administration banished them in mid-September.

Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019. He was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges at the time of his death. The legal dispute over the birthday letter is now closed, leaving the factual questions about the 2003 album to the public record without further federal judicial intervention.