ITS PERMANENT

Judge Tosses Trump Defamation Lawsuit Over Epstein Letter

The president demanded $10 billion. He’s leaving with nothing but humiliation.

A federal judge has thrown out President Donald Trump’s desperate defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its ownership—this time with prejudice.

Trump demanded the Journal and its billionaire owners, the Murdoch family, fork over $10 billion over an article accusing Trump of writing an elaborate birthday letter, complete with a doodle of a woman’s silhouette, to the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Now, Trump is leaving empty-handed after District Judge Darrin P. Gayles, appointed by Barack Obama to the southern district of Florida, dismissed the president’s suit with prejudice, barring him from ever refiling the same claim.

Gayles wrote in a 20-page filing that the president could not prove “actual malice.” He went as far as writing that Trump came “nowhere close” to proving defamation.

Gayles said Trump’s claims were “conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the article, and often irrelevant to whether Defendants knew or should have known that the statements in the article were purportedly false.”

Gayles previously dismissed the lawsuit in April, but allowed the president’s legal team to file an amended complaint, which he now says was equally unsatisfactory.

The Journal published the letter as part of a bombshell report in July 2025.

The cryptic card, in which Trump allegedly wrote “may every day be another wonderful secret,” instantly went viral at the peak of criticism of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files.

Trump melted down over the report, writing on Truth Social that it was “FAKE” and that he personally warned the 95-year-old Rupert Murdoch in advance that the report would bring about a lawsuit going after his family’s billions. Forbes estimates the family’s net worth at $25 billion.

“President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly,” Trump wrote. “The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist.”

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Trump, 80, has repeatedly denied writing the letter, despite a signature at the bottom perfectly matching his well-known “Donald Trump” scribble.

The Journal never backed down from Trump. Its lawyers wrote that the president’s lawsuit “does not include a single plausible allegation” and insisted that its article—headlined “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump”—is true.

“We’re pleased with the court’s decision,” a spokesman for the Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones told the New York Times.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers indicated they would continue to attempt to sue the Murdoch-owned paper.

“President Trump will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement to the Times. “The president will continue to hold those who mislead the American People with Fake News and smears accountable for their actions.”

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Josh FialloBreaking News Reporter

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