A federal judge in Miami on Saturday dismissed with prejudice President Donald Trump’s amended defamation lawsuit against media baron Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal. The suit concerned the newspaper’s reporting on an alleged birthday letter for his 50th birthday, sent by the president to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Trump had again failed to plausibly argue that the newspaper and other defendants had acted with actual malice when they published the story in July 2025. The decision, which came more than six months after he dismissed the first version of Trump’s lawsuit, bars the former president from filing another suit with the same claims against Murdoch and the newspaper in federal court.
Judge Gayles stressed that the Journal had conducted a “thorough and detailed investigation,” rejecting Trump’s argument that the paper should not have published the story after he denied writing the letter. He added that accepting this argument would allow public figures to block unfavorable reporting, which “conflicts with the First Amendment” protecting freedom of speech and of the press. The judge did not determine whether Trump had actually written the disputed letter, while Trump has strongly denied authorship. Public-figure plaintiffs such as Trump must prove that a defendant acted with actual malice when making allegedly defamatory statements, according to Supreme Court rulings cited by Gayles.
Trump had sought $10 billion in damages from Murdoch and the Journal, which is owned by Murdoch’s News Corp. A spokesperson for the newspaper’s publisher, Dow Jones & Co., expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision. A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team, meanwhile, confirmed that the former president plans to appeal the ruling. “President Trump will continue to vigorously pursue his powerful lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all other defendants,” the spokesperson said, adding that the former president will keep holding accountable those who “deceive the American people with fake news and defamation.”
Trump’s amended complaint contained new details and claims, including that Murdoch had told the former president “I’ll take care of it” during a phone call about the article. Saturday’s ruling marks the latest setback in legal proceedings between Trump and the media. Another federal judge in Miami, on October 22, ordered Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC. The Journal’s July 17, 2025 article described a letter bearing Trump’s signature, included in an album of letters that Epstein was giving for his 50th birthday. The letter, sent at Ghislaine Maxwell’s request, was described as containing typed text, a sketch of a naked woman, and Trump’s signature below her waist, imitating pubic hair. Trump angrily denied writing the letter, declaring: “This is not me. This is a fake thing.”
Source: CNBC