Judge dismisses Trump's lawsuit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday book

A US judge has dismissed former President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, ruling that the suit was "grasping at straws." The lawsuit alleged that the newspaper defamed Trump by publishing a letter allegedly written by him to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a birthday book in 2003.

Trump denied writing or signing the letter, which contained suggestive language and a drawing of a woman's body. Judge Darrin Gayles found that the suit violated the First Amendment, which protects freedom of the press. Gayles had previously dismissed the defamation lawsuit seeking $20 billion in damages, but Trump's team refiled it seeking $10 billion.

The judge threw out the case "with prejudice," meaning it cannot be filed again. The newspaper's story about Epstein's 50th birthday book and the letter with Trump's name came as the Trump administration faced criticism for its handling of Epstein documents. Trump claimed the newspaper slandered him and violated libel laws in publishing the article.

In his ruling, Gayles noted the newspaper's "thoughtful and detailed investigation" and said the lawsuit was "grasping at straws" to "manufacture flaws" in their work. The judge ruled that Trump's legal team did not prove that the defendants made defamatory statements with "actual malice," a high bar that requires proof the defendant knew the defamatory statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth.

Trump alleged the letter obtained and released by the Journal was "fake" and that the defendants devised the story to defame him. The newspaper debunked the claim, reporting that a letter bearing Trump's name "contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker" and allegedly ended with the words: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret."