Judge permanently dismisses Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against Wall Street Journal

A federal judge in Miami dismissed Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Saturday.

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that the case should be thrown out with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

The judge described the legal action as an attempt to "grasping at straws." He found that the plaintiff did not prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice.

The lawsuit centered on a story published last year by The Wall Street Journal.

The article reported on a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the newspaper said bore Trump's name.

The letter was included in a 2003 album compiled for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday.

Ghislaine Maxwell collected the letter for that album years before Epstein was first arrested in 2006.

The text in the letter is framed by an outline of a hand-drawn naked woman.

It ends with the phrase "Happy Birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret."

Trump denied writing the letter and called the reporting false, malicious, and defamatory.

His legal team alleged in the original complaint that the paper knowingly and recklessly published false statements that caused overwhelming financial and reputational harm.

Gayles had previously dismissed the suit in April for failing to make the malice argument clearly enough at that stage of the proceedings. He then granted Trump permission to file an amended complaint in May. The new ruling rejects that amended version as well. The judge cited the Supreme Court's 1964 decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which requires proof that a media outlet knew a statement was false or showed reckless disregard for the truth when publishing it. Gayles wrote that the amended complaint falls short of pleading actual malice. He stated that the allegations regarding malice are conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the article, and often irrelevant to whether the defendants knew or should have known that the statements were purportedly false. The judge also noted that the Journal's story did not ignore Trump's denial. Rather, it informed readers that the president decried the letter as a fake and denied writing it. The White House did not immediately react publicly to the dismissal or respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press. This ruling adds to a list of media disputes during Trump's second term. The administration is currently involved in lawsuits with the BBC, The Associated Press, and CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. Those outlets are suing for restored access after Trump banished them from the White House in mid-September. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The next step in this specific legal matter is now complete, as the dismissal is permanent.