A federal judge has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s $10 billion (€8.5 billion) defamation suit. wall street journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch.
In his ruling, Judge Darrin P. Giles said Trump did not come close to meeting the threshold of “actual malice” that public figures must clear in defamation cases.
This means that one must prove that the public statement made about them was false, but also that the media outlet or person making the statement knew or should have known that it was false.
“This complaint does not come anywhere close to this standard,” Gales wrote in his decision published on Monday local time. “Quite the opposite.”
What was Trump’s lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal about?
Trump filed a lawsuit against him WSJOwned by Murdoch’s company News Corp in July 2025. He is demanding at least $10 billion, claiming the newspaper tarnished his reputation by publishing an article describing a birthday book he compiled for deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The article said one card contained sexually suggestive text and a sketch of a female figure drawn with a marker bearing Trump’s signature.
Trump and his lawyers have long insisted that the birthday card is a fake.
Judge Giles wrote this in his decision WSJreporters reached out to Trump for comment in advance and printed his denial. This, the judge said, allowed readers to decide for themselves what conclusions to draw, countering Trump’s claim that the newspaper acted with actual malice.
Monday’s ruling did not say whether the article was true or not.
After the ruling, Trump said he would file an “updated lawsuit” by April 27, the date given by the judge for filing an amended version.
Trump’s relationship with Epstein was back in the spotlight last week, when Melania Trump, who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges of underage girls at the time of his death, denied having an affair with Epstein at a press conference.
What about other defamation cases filed by Trump?
Trump has filed numerous defamation lawsuits against major media outlets during his presidency over reporting he has deemed unfair or inaccurate.
Advocates for freedom of the press are concerned that Trump is looking to use defamation cases to suppress critical coverage.
Recently Trump had taken legal action against BBC. They filed a lawsuit in November 2025 seeking damages for misleading editing of Trump’s speech.
Trump has also sued him new York Times On articles and a book about him and on a poll in an Iowa newspaper that showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential campaign.
All three outlets have denied wrongdoing.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko