A federal judge has permanently dismissed United States President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal. On Saturday, US District Judge Darrin Gayles concluded that the president had failed to establish the standard of “actual malice” required for defamation suits. Under US law, a successful complaint must show that the defendant released a defamatory statement knowing it was false or with “reckless disregard” for its accuracy.
Gayles, however, said that Trump was “grasping at straws” with his $10bn case against The Wall Street Journal. The case stemmed from coverage that linked Trump to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. On July 17, 2025, The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive describing a sexually suggestive birthday note gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, as part of a book of congratulatory letters.
The letters were reportedly collected by disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her involvement in Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme. The note attributed to Trump includes typed text framed by a hand-drawn outline of what appears to be a curvaceous woman. At the bottom, where her pelvic region might be, is Trump’s signature.
Trump vehemently denied responsibility for the text, the signature and the artwork. A copy of the birthday letter was later released through the House Oversight Committee. The Wall Street Journal’s article came at a time when Trump’s second administration was facing intense scrutiny over whether it had withheld documents about Epstein’s alleged sex crimes, despite promises of transparency.
Critics had also raised questions about the nature of Trump and Epstein’s relationship. The two men appear to have socialised together, and Epstein was known to have surrounded himself with powerful figures from politics, academia and the business world. In 2025, Trump said he ended his relationship with Epstein after the financier “stole” female employees from his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for sex in Florida in 2008, for which he served 13 months in jail. In 2019, he faced federal charges related to sex trafficking, but he was found dead in his New York City jail cell before he could be brought to trial. His death was later ruled a suicide.
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