A federal judge in Miami has dismissed President Donald Trump’s amended defamation lawsuit against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal, ruling that Trump failed to demonstrate the actual malice required for such a claim. The suit stemmed from a July 2025 article reporting on a 50th birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which The Wall Street Journal said bore Trump's signature. Judge Darrin Gayles’s dismissal with prejudice means Trump cannot refile the case in federal court.

Trump had sued Murdoch and the Journal twice over the article, which detailed the letter framed by a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman that allegedly included Trump's signature and was connected to Epstein’s close associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump has consistently denied authoring the letter, describing it as fake, but the Journal’s investigation was described by the judge as detailed and thoughtful. Despite Trump's attempts to highlight flaws in the reporting and the investigation, the court found these criticisms insufficient to meet the legal standard for defamation.

The lawsuit sought $10 billion in damages and included new allegations such as claims that Murdoch assured Trump he would handle the situation after a discussion about the article. However, the judge rejected all of Trump’s arguments, emphasizing that allowing public figures to block negative coverage simply by denying allegations would infringe on First Amendment rights protecting freedom of speech and the press. While the court did not rule on the letter’s authenticity, it concluded that Trump did not provide credible evidence of actual malice by the defendants.

Following the ruling, a spokesperson for Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision. Meanwhile, Trump’s legal team announced plans to appeal the dismissal, pledging to continue pursuing their case. This latest development is part of ongoing legal battles between Trump and various media outlets, including an unrelated defamation suit against the BBC where Trump has been ordered to sit for a deposition.