Judge Ends Trump's $10 Billion Suit Against WSJ Over Epstein Note

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles permanently dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media executive Rupert Murdoch on Saturday. The ruling ends the legal dispute over the newspaper’s 2025 coverage linking the president to Jeffrey Epstein. Gayles wrote that the case was "grasping at straws" and failed to meet the legal standard for defamation.

The court concluded that Trump did not establish actual malice. Under U.S. law, a plaintiff in a public-figure defamation suit must prove the defendant published false information knowing it was untrue or with reckless disregard for the truth. Gayles stated that the amended complaint’s allegations regarding malice were conclusory and vague. He added that the legal team appeared to attempt "to manufacture flaws with the investigation" published in the article.

The litigation originated from an exclusive report released by The Wall Street Journal on July 17, 2025. The article described a sexually suggestive birthday note given to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. The note, part of a book of letters collected by Ghislaine Maxwell, featured typed text framed by a hand-drawn outline of a curvaceous woman. Trump’s signature appeared at the bottom of the drawing. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme.

Trump filed the initial complaint in federal court in Miami on July 18, 2025. The suit accused the paper and two associated journalists of publishing numerous false and disparaging statements with knowing and reckless intent. The complaint alleged that the coverage caused overwhelming financial and reputational harm. In April, Gayles dismissed that first version of the lawsuit, granting Trump the chance to refile.

Trump amended the complaint in May. The updated filing argued that The Wall Street Journal was reckless in its failure to show how reporters received and verified the letter. The case proceeded against this amended version. Gayles’s Saturday decision dismisses the matter with prejudice, which blocks the president from filing a new lawsuit based on the same facts.

The original article appeared while Trump’s second administration faced scrutiny over withheld documents regarding Epstein. Critics questioned the nature of the relationship between the two men. Trump stated in 2025 that he ended the association after Epstein stole female employees from his Mar-a-Lago resort. Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 for soliciting a minor and served 13 months in jail. He died in a New York City jail cell in 2019 before standing trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Legal advocates estimate the number of Epstein’s victims is in the hundreds.

The dismissal removes one of several high-profile legal battles facing the president. Trump maintains ongoing defamation cases against other media outlets, including the BBC and The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal’s reporting stands as the central evidence in this concluded matter. The judge’s written opinion remains the final word on the specific claims regarding the 2025 birthday note story.