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MIAMI (CN) — A federal judge tossed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Monday, ruling the publication’s article about a bawdy letter Trump supposedly sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein did not meet the high bar for defamation.
Trump filed the lawsuit last year after The Wall Street Journal published an article about a letter featuring a naked woman and Trump’s signature that Epstein received for his 50th birthday. Trump has maintained the letter, later released by congressional Democrats, is fake.
The complaint named Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, News Corp., founder Rupert Murdoch and CEO Robert Thomson. It also named the article’s writers, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.
In a 17-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Darrin P. Gayles said Trump failed to show the publication “acted with actual malice,” a required element in a defamation case.
“The complaint also alleges that President Trump told defendants that the letter was a fake before they ran the article,” wrote Gayles, a Barack Obama appointee. “President Trump argues that this allegation shows that defendants acted with serious doubts about the truth of their reporting and, therefore, with actual malice. The court disagrees.”
“The complaint comes nowhere close to this standard,” Gayles continued. “Quite the opposite. The article explains that, before running the story, defendants contacted President Trump, Justice Department officials, and the FBI for comment. President Trump responded with his denial, the Justice Department did not respond at all, and the FBI declined to comment. In short, the complaint and article confirm that defendants attempted to investigate.”
Gayles stopped short of siding with the Wall Street Journal’s assertion that the letter was real and written by Trump.
“Whether President Trump was the author of the letter or Epstein’s friend are questions of fact that cannot be determined at this stage of the litigation,” Gayles wrote.
The judge also left open the possibility that Trump could amend his complaint and refile the lawsuit on or before April 27th.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he did intend to refile the lawsuit.
“Our powerful case against the Wall Street Journal, and other defendants, was asked to be refiled by the judge,” Trump wrote. “It is not a termination, it is a suggested refiling, and we will be, as per the order.”
“We are pleased with the judge’s decision to dismiss this complaint,” a spokesperson for Dow Jones said in a statement. “We stand behind the reliability, rigor and accuracy of the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.”
Trump has increasingly used the courts to attack media outlets he deems as political enemies. Lawsuits filed by Trump against the New York Times and the British Broadcasting Corporation are currently pending in federal court.
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