A federal judge on Monday dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its reporting on a lewd birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name.
US District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump failed to plausibly allege the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper acted with “actual malice” when it reported the story.
Gayles dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, meaning the saga is not over: Trump’s camp now has until April 27 to file an amended complaint addressing the judge’s concerns.
In order to proceed, Gayles wrote, Trump must adequately allege that the Journal knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
But Gayles said the original complaint instead relied on “formulaic” claims about malice and how the newspaper “knew or should have known” the story was false — coming “nowhere close” to the court’s standards for claiming defamation for a public figure such as Trump.
The judge also pointed to the Journal’s reporting process, noting that the article included Trump’s denial and reflected its efforts to seek comment from the White House, the Justice Department and the FBI.
“President Trump will follow Judge Gayles’s ruling and guidance to refile this powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other Defendants,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told CNN in a statement. “The President will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in Fake News to mislead the American People.”
Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit, filed last summer, was an extraordinary escalation of his ongoing legal campaign against media companies he views as opponents.
Legal experts consulted by CNN said they could not recall any past instances of a sitting president suing a news outlet over a story.
For Trump, though, it was a continuation of a pattern that dates back decades. He has frequently garnered publicity for filing lawsuits that ultimately fall apart in court.
Analysts speculated that Trump might have filed suit against the Journal to muddy the waters about the Epstein birthday book; to pressure Journal parent News Corp into a settlement payment; or to goad Murdoch in other ways.
Trump struck settlement deals with several other media companies after winning reelection. Murdoch’s camp, however, said it would not go the settlement route.
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Paula Reid and Liam Reilly contributed reporting.
