Judge Dismisses Trump’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Wall Street Journal Over Epstein ‘Birthday Book’ Report

A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump‘s defamation claims against the Wall Street Journal over a report by the newspaper about a birthday letter purportedly written by Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Judge Darrin Phillip Gayles of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Monday said in a ruling that Trump’s lawsuit “fails to adequately allege actual malice,” a legal standard in the U.S. for proving defamation.

Trump had been seeking at least $20 billion in damages in the suit against the WSJ, its parent companies Dow Jones & Co. and News Corp, the reporters on the story, and Rupert Murdoch. The judge wrote in the decision that Trump’s complaint “is devoid of any allegations regarding special damages” and said the lawsuit must be dismissed even if his lawsuit had established actual malice on the part of the WSJ.

However, the judge declined to rule on the veracity of the WSJ’s report.

“Because the Court finds that the Complaint fails to adequately allege actual malice, it declines to address these issues at this juncture. Moreover, whether President Trump was the author of the Letter or Epstein’s friend are questions of fact that cannot be determined at this stage of the litigation,” the judge wrote.

Because Trump has only made one attempt to state his claims, the court dismissed the complaint “without prejudice,” meaning the president is allowed to file an amended complaint. The judge set a deadline of April 27, 2026, for Trump to do so. A copy of the judge’s ruling is available at this link.

In a statement, Trump’s legal team said: “President Trump will follow Judge Gayles’s ruling and guidance to refile this powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other Defendants. The President will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in Fake News to mislead the American People.”

Reps for Dow Jones & Co., WSJ’s parent, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the Wall Street Journal’s story in question, published July 17, 2025, a letter bearing Trump’s name appeared in a birthday book containing letters from the family and friends of Epstein, the disgraced financier who was a convicted sex offender. In an interview with the newspaper, the president denied writing the letter. “This is not me,” Trump said, as quoted by the Journal. “This is a fake thing.” The Journal reported that Trump’s letter “contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair. The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.’” Epstein died in his jail cell in 2019, with a medical examiner ruling the cause was suicide by hanging.

The Wall Street Journal and its parent companies filed a motion to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit last September, saying the first reason Trump’s suit should be thrown out is because the WSJ article in question “is true.” The filing noted that Epstein’s estate had produced “the Birthday Book, which contains the letter bearing the bawdy drawing and [Trump’s] signature, exactly as The Wall Street Journal reported,” in response to a congressional subpoena.

In his ruling, Judge Gayles wrote that, “While the produced documents certainly appear identical to the album and Letter referenced in the Article, the Court cannot, simply by taking judicial notice, find that they are the same, particularly where President Trump disputes their accuracy.”

Trump’s suit failed to establish actual malice, the judge ruled. He cited the standard that “a plaintiff must show the defendant deliberately avoided investigating the veracity of the statement in order to evade learning the truth” — and that the president’s complaint “comes nowhere close to this standard. Quite the opposite.”

Citing the Journal’s article, Judge Gayles noted that before running the story, the newspaper “contacted President Trump, Justice Department officials, and the FBI for comment. President Trump responded with his denial, the Justice Department did not respond at all, and the FBI declined to comment. In short, the Complaint and Article confirm that Defendants attempted to investigate.”