Judge dismisses Donald Trump defamation lawsuit against Wall Street Journal

US District Judge Darrin P. Gayles has dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its parent company Dow Jones, ABC News Australia, the BBC, and PBS NewsHour reported. Gayles dismissed the case with prejudice in Miami, meaning Trump cannot refile the lawsuit or challenge the judge’s decision, according to the Washington Examiner and PBS NewsHour. [1][3][4][5]

Trump filed the 10 billion dollar lawsuit after the newspaper published a report on a birthday letter he allegedly wrote and signed for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, ABC News Australia and the BBC reported. Trump denied writing or signing the letter, which was part of a birthday book compiled before Epstein faced criminal charges, according to the Washington Examiner and the BBC. [1][3][4]

In throwing out the lawsuit, Gayles ruled that Trump was grasping at straws and failed to show the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice, ABC News Australia and PBS NewsHour reported. ABC News Australia added that the judge accused the president of attempting to manufacture flaws in the news outlet's investigative reporting. [3][5]

The Wall Street Journal is published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp, and is based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The lawsuit had also named media mogul and parent company leader Rupert Murdoch as a defendant, according to ABC News Australia and the BBC. [3][4][13]