A US federal judge has reportedly dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on a birthday letter allegedly written by Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The lawsuit, filed in July 2025 in a federal court in Miami, sought at least $10 billion on each of two counts of defamation, a total of at least $20 billion, against the Journal's publisher Dow Jones, parent company News Corp, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and two reporters who wrote the story.
What The Story Said
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's name was on a birthday letter included in a 2003 album compiled by Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein's 50th birthday. The letter reportedly featured text framed by a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman and ended with the words, "Happy Birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret." Trump denied writing it, calling it fake.
The Journal's Defence
The Journal argued the lawsuit was an attempt to silence a newspaper for publishing speech "subsequently proven true by documents released by Congress." The paper called the suit "an affront to the First Amendment."
After the article was published, Epstein's estate produced a copy of the birthday book in response to a congressional subpoena. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee publicly released an image of the page attributed to Trump, which largely matched the Journal's description. The White House continued to deny the letter was authentic.
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Broader Context
The lawsuit was one of several Trump has filed against major media outlets over reporting he has characterised as unfair or false, raising concern among press freedom advocates that the suits are aimed at discouraging critical coverage.
Trump has not prevailed at trial in his media lawsuits, though his lawyers secured settlements from ABC, CBS, Facebook and X. The dismissal of this case adds to that pattern.
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