A federal judge has permanently thrown out Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its coverage of an alleged 2003 birthday letter sent to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. US District Judge Darrin P Gayles issued the final ruling with prejudice on Saturday, establishing that the US president cannot alter or refile his legal challenge.
The dismissal concludes a legal dispute rooted in a 17 July 2025 Wall Street Journal article published under the headline “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump.” Trump strongly denied the report, maintaining that the alleged letter and lewd drawing described by the publication were completely fake and fabricated.
Judge Gayles ruled that Trump's revised complaint failed to satisfy the legal threshold of "actual malice," which public figures must prove to prevail in defamation claims. "As President Trump has not plausibly alleged that each Defendant made defamatory statements with actual malice, the Amended Complaint must be dismissed," Gayles wrote in the court order. He added that "because this is President Trump’s second attempt to allege his claims, the Court finds that dismissal with prejudice is appropriate."
The decision follows an initial dismissal in April that had granted Trump permission to amend his original filing. Throughout the court proceedings, the judge highlighted that the newspaper had sought Trump's response prior to publishing and had explicitly included his direct denials in the article, demonstrating compliance with appropriate professional reporting standards.
The lawsuit named several defendants, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation media empire owns the Journal. Prior to the report's publication in July 2025, Trump had personally contacted Murdoch in an effort to halt the story. While the Journal did not initially include an image of the letter, the House oversight committee released the document in September after obtaining it from Epstein’s estate.
Lawyers representing the newspaper asked the judge to dismiss the claims, arguing that the report was accurate and did not meet the legal bar for defamation. They asserted that journalists involved neither knowingly published false statements nor acted with doubts regarding the material. Following Saturday's decision, a spokesperson for Dow Jones stated, "We’re pleased with the court’s decision."
Despite the judge's final ruling, Trump's legal team signaled an intent to continue contesting the matter. A spokesperson for his legal representatives released a statement saying, "President Trump will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants. The President will continue to hold those who mislead the American People with Fake News and smears accountable for their actions."
