‘Grasping at straws’: US court dismisses Trump’s Wall Street Journal defamation suit over Epstein letter

Miami: A federal judge on Saturday permanently threw out President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, characterising the legal effort as “grasping at straws”. The lawsuit originated from an investigative report detailing the president's past ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.

US District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed the case with prejudice in Miami federal court, concluding that the president failed to demonstrate that the defendants published defamatory statements with actual malice, a legal threshold required for public figures. In his decision, Judge Gayles observed that the suit attempted to “manufacture” flaws in the newspaper's reporting. The designation “with prejudice” prevents the complaint from being refiled, rendering the dismissal final and binding.

The legal setback occurs as Trump and his administration maintain contentious relations with news organisations during his second term. Beyond his dispute with the Journal, the president remains embroiled in legal actions involving the BBC, The Associated Press and other prominent outlets including CNN, MS NOW and Politico, which filed suit after being denied White House access in mid-September. Trump has routinely denounced critical press coverage, characterising outlets as “fake news” and levying personal insults against journalists.

The White House did not immediately issue a public response regarding Saturday's ruling.

The litigation against the “Journal” focused on an article published last year detailing a sexually suggestive drawing and note bearing Trump’s signature, which was part of a 2003 celebratory album created for Epstein’s 50th birthday. The material was reportedly compiled by disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell years prior to Epstein’s initial 2006 arrest and his subsequent falling-out with Trump.

According to the outlet, the document featuring Trump’s name contained text bordered by the draft of what appeared to be a hand-drawn nude woman, concluding with the words.

“Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to the newspaper.

Trump rejected the account, denying he authored the note and labeling the report “false, malicious and defamatory”.

The complaint filed in Miami alleged that the publication and its journalists “knowingly and recklessly” printed “numerous false, defamatory and disparaging statements”, claiming the story inflicted “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” on the president.

Epstein died allegedly by suicide in a New York detention center in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Judge Gayles had previously dismissed an earlier iteration of the suit in April, finding that Trump failed to establish that the article was written with malicious intent, though he allowed the president an opportunity to submit an amended filing in May.

In Saturday's ruling, the judge cited the Supreme Court's landmark 1964 precedent in New York Times Co Vs Sullivan, which established a high burden of proof for public figures by requiring evidence that an outlet knowingly shared false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

“The Amended Complaint falls short of pleading actual malice,” Gayles wrote. “Indeed, the allegations regarding malice are conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the Article, and often irrelevant to whether Defendants knew or should have known that the statements in the Article were purportedly false.”

The ruling further pointed out that the Journal did not ignore or minimise the president's position, noting, “Rather, it informed readers that President Trump decried the Letter as a fake and denied writing it.”

Judge Gayles added that multiple other claims raised within the lawsuit similarly lacked legal merit.

AP