A US federal judge has dismissed President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its parent company Dow Jones, finding that the legal action violated constitutional protections for press freedom. Trump had initially sought $20 billion in damages before refiling with a reduced demand of $10 billion after an earlier dismissal.
The lawsuit stemmed from the newspaper’s reporting last year on a letter allegedly written by Trump for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday book in 2003, prior to Epstein facing criminal charges. The letter, which bore Trump’s signature, reportedly contained suggestive language and a hand-drawn outline of a woman’s body. Trump has consistently denied authoring or signing the document, characterizing it as fake.
Judge Darrin Gayles issued a 20-page ruling dismissing the case “with prejudice,” meaning the suit cannot be refiled. The judge noted the newspaper’s “thoughtful and detailed investigation” and described Trump’s legal arguments as “grasping at straws” in attempting to manufacture defects in the publication’s work. Gayles found that Trump’s team failed to establish that the defendants made defamatory statements with “actual malice,” the legal standard required in cases involving public figures.
Actual malice represents a high evidentiary threshold, requiring proof that a defendant either knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truthfulness. Trump’s legal team had argued the Journal should have abandoned publication when Trump denied writing the letter, but Gayles ruled this interpretation contradicts First Amendment principles. The judge wrote that adopting such a standard would prevent journalists from publishing negative information whenever public figures issue denials, conflicting with fundamental freedoms of expression.
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