Trump loses defamation case against Wall Street Journal
Trump had brought the case in a Florida court last summer, seeking at least $10 billion in damages from the newspaper and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch.
A federal judge in the United States has dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the publisher of the Wall Street Journal over a report linking him to Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had brought the case in a Florida court last summer, seeking at least $10 billion in damages from the newspaper and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch.
The dispute centred on a Wall Street Journal article published on 17 July, which reported that Trump’s name appeared in a birthday album prepared for Epstein in 2003. The report also said the message attributed to Trump included a sketch of a woman’s body.
Trump denied any involvement, calling the material fake and insisting he had not written it.
But US District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that the claim did not meet the legal threshold required for a public figure to succeed in a defamation case.
In his decision, the judge said Trump had failed to plausibly show that the newspaper acted with actual malice, the standard that applies in such cases. That standard requires proof not only that the statement was false, but also that the publisher either knew it was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
Gayles said Trump’s complaint fell far short of that requirement.
The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it can be brought again in revised form. Trump has been given until 27 April to file an amended complaint.
