US judge throws out Trump's $10bn suit against Wall Street Journal
- Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed Trump's defamation case with prejudice, so it cannot be refiled.
- Trump sued over a July 2025 report on a birthday letter allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein.
- The ruling did not decide whether Trump wrote the letter, only that the legal standard was not met.
A United States federal judge has dismissed President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, over the paper's report on a birthday letter allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Trump failed to show the newspaper and other defendants acted with "actual malice" — the legal standard a public figure must meet in a defamation case in the US.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning Trump cannot refile the same suit. It was the second time Gayles rejected it; he first dismissed an earlier version in April and allowed Trump to submit an amended complaint.
In the latest ruling, the judge said the amended complaint was "grasping at straws" and tried to "manufacture flaws" in the paper's investigation, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
What the report said
The suit followed a Wall Street Journal article on July 17, 2025, which alleged that a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump's name was in a birthday album prepared for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. The note reportedly ended: "Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret."
Trump denied writing the letter and called the report "false, malicious, and defamatory". He sought at least $10 billion in damages.
The House Oversight Committee published a copy of the alleged note last year. It is a short exchange between "Donald" and "Jeffrey", ending with a signature.
Importantly, the ruling did not decide whether Trump wrote the letter. It only found that his lawsuit did not meet the legal test for defamation by a public figure.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the Journal's parent company, welcomed the decision: "We're pleased with the court's decision."
Why it matters beyond the US
The Epstein affair has gripped American politics for years, and Trump's name appears repeatedly in documents released under a law Congress passed requiring their publication. He denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime connected to the affair.
The case also lands ahead of the November 3 US midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress. Democrats have reportedly spent more than $35 million on Epstein-related advertisements.
For Nigerians, US court rulings rarely touch daily life directly, but American politics shapes global markets, the dollar-naira rate and trade. A president tied up in court battles also has less room to push foreign policy, including on Africa.
In a separate case on Saturday, a new suit was filed to stop Trump's plan for a large triumphal arch near the military cemetery outside Washington. Trump told reporters the project was needed "militarily" and "aesthetically", adding: "We're going to see if we can get it built."
