A federal judge dismissed President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal’s publisher for a second time, ruling that Trump failed to show the newspaper acted with actual malice in reporting on a birthday letter attributed to him and sent to Jeffrey Epstein. The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning Trump cannot refile the case, though his legal team said he would appeal.
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles said Trump’s allegations were “conclusory, vague” and often inconsistent with or irrelevant to the article. He had dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit in April but allowed Trump to amend and refile it.
Trump’s lawyers argued the reporters failed to investigate whether he signed the letter and that the headline implied he wrote it. The Journal’s lawyers said the article did not claim Trump authored it and that the lawsuit failed to meet the actual-malice standard for public figures. Gayles expressed skepticism of Trump’s interpretation at an August hearing.
Dow Jones said it welcomed the ruling. Epstein, who pleaded guilty to state prostitution-related charges in 2008, died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.