Trump’s WSJ lawsuit over Epstein card dismissed: president came ‘nowhere close’ to proving malice

WorldPolitics
13 Apr 2026 • 10:08 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Trump’s WSJ lawsuit over Epstein card dismissed: president came ‘nowhere close’ to proving malice

  • A federal judge dismissed Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch, and associated journalists and publishers.
  • The lawsuit concerned the newspaper's reporting on an alleged birthday letter from Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which Trump denies writing.
  • Florida District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump failed to demonstrate "actual malice," the legal standard for proving defamation.
  • The judge stated that Trump "came nowhere close to this standard" and disagreed with his argument that the defendants acted with serious doubts about their reporting's truthfulness.
  • The ruling allows Trump the opportunity to file an amended complaint, while the defendants had argued the lawsuit was an "affront to the First Amendment."

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