Trump lawsuit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday letter dismissed with prejudice

A federal judge on Saturday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. According to the South China Morning Post, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed the suit with prejudice, ruling that the president failed to prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice. The South China Morning Post noted that the dismissal is permanent and the case cannot be refiled.

The lawsuit concerned a story published by the Journal regarding Trump's ties to financier Jeffrey Epstein. The report described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday. The South China Morning Post reported that the letter featured text framed by the outline of a hand-drawn naked woman and ended with a birthday wish. Trump denied writing the letter, calling the reporting false, malicious, and defamatory.

Axios reported that this marks the second time this year that courts have blocked Trump's attempts to sue the Wall Street Journal over stories regarding his relationship with Epstein.

Brief written by urgent.news from CBC News, South China Morning Post, Axios — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.