Federal Judge Dismisses Trump's Defamation Lawsuit Against The Wall Street Journal With Prejudice
U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Miami, Florida, on October 31 dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and other defendants with prejudice, meaning Trump cannot refile the same claims. The judge ruled that Trump had failed to plausibly allege that the newspaper acted with "actual malice," as the law requires, in its reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
In a 20-page order, Gayles wrote that the lawsuit was "grasping at straws" as it attempted to "manufacture" flaws in the Journal's investigative reporting. He also wrote that if journalists were blocked from publishing negative or contradictory reporting whenever a public figure or his team denied an accusation, that would violate the First Amendment, and that, as with his first attempt, Trump had failed again.
The case stems from a Wall Street Journal story published in July 2025. The newspaper reported that a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump's name was included in an album compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003; according to the newspaper, the letter's text was framed by the outline of a hand-drawn naked woman and ended with the words, "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret." Trump denied writing the letter and called the story "false, malicious, and defamatory."
Trump then sued in federal court in Miami. The defendants include The Wall Street Journal, its publisher Dow Jones, its parent company News Corp, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and two of the newspaper's reporters, and the suit sought billions of dollars in damages. The complaint accused the defendants of having "knowingly and recklessly" published "numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements" that caused "overwhelming financial and reputational harm."
It was the second time the case has been dismissed. Gayles dismissed Trump's original complaint in April, ruling that its assertions of malice were formulaic and came nowhere close to the legal standard for a public figure, but allowed him to file an amended complaint, which Trump did in May. The judge found the revised complaint still failed to resolve those shortcomings and dismissed the case for good on October 31. Trump cannot bring the same claims again in district court, though he may appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The judge has not yet decided whether the Journal's side is entitled to recover its legal fees.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：特朗普总统在白宫椭圆形办公室坚毅桌前展示已签署的法案（2025年7月资料图）。照片：白宫官方照片，Daniel Torok 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / President Donald Trump displays a signed bill at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office (file photo, July 2025). Photo: The White House, by Daniel Torok, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
