Judge Dismisses Trump’s Defamation Suit Against Wall Street Journal With Prejudice

A federal judge on Saturday dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for a second time, this time with prejudice, ending the case in the trial court. U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles of the Southern District of Florida ruled that Trump failed to plausibly allege that the newspaper acted with “actual malice” when it published its reporting on a letter to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name.

The dismissal with prejudice means Trump cannot refile the same claims in that court, according to Reuters. His legal team signaled it plans to appeal. A spokesman said Trump “will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants,” according to CNN. A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent, told CNN, “We’re pleased with the court’s decision.”

What the judge decided

Gayles rejected Trump’s argument that the Journal should have withheld its story after he denied writing the letter, ruling that such a requirement would violate the First Amendment. “Were that the law, any time a public figure or his team denies an accusation, journalists would be immediately blocked from publishing negative or contradictory press,” the judge wrote, according to CNN.

According to Reuters, Gayles wrote that the amended complaint failed to show actual malice, the standard a public figure must meet in a defamation case, and described the complaint as “grasping at straws” in its attempt to “manufacture flaws” in the paper’s investigation. The judge also pointed to what Reuters described as the paper’s “thoughtful and detailed investigation” and its efforts to seek comment from Trump and other officials before publishing.

A second dismissal after an earlier reprieve

Gayles had dismissed the case once before, in April, ruling that Trump’s original complaint relied on “formulaic” assertions of malice that came “nowhere close” to the legal standard for a public figure, according to CNN. That dismissal was without prejudice, and the judge gave Trump a chance to file an amended complaint. In Saturday’s ruling, Gayles found that the revised complaint still failed to fix those problems.

Trump sued the Journal, its parent companies, media executive Rupert Murdoch and two reporters in July 2025, after the newspaper reported on a sexually suggestive letter bearing his name in an album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, according to CNN. Trump denied writing the letter and accused the Journal of knowingly publishing a false story. The refiled suit sought at least $10 billion in damages, according to Reuters.

The case drew attention because Trump brought it while serving as president. CNN reported that legal analysts it spoke with could not recall another instance of a sitting president suing a news outlet over a story.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN and Reuters.