A US federal court has definitively closed the case on President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The lawsuit concerned an article about a letter to Jeffrey Epstein that the newspaper linked to Trump. The judge found no evidence of the journalists' 'actual malice'. This was reported by CBS News.
District Judge Darrin Gayles of Miami decided that Trump did not prove that the journalists knew they were publishing falsehoods or ignored doubts about their truthfulness. This condition must be met by a public figure to win a defamation case in the US. In a 20-page ruling, the judge wrote that the lawsuit 'grasps at straws' and that its authors were trying to 'create' flaws in the newspaper's investigation.
The case was closed without the right to refile in the same court.
Trump's lawyers argued that the newspaper should have refrained from publishing after his official denial. The judge rejected this argument. According to CBS, he pointed out that such a requirement contradicts the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If this logic were accepted, any public figure could block critical materials or those they disagree with.
The lawsuit was filed in July 2025 against the newspaper, its managing companies, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and two reporters. According to CBS, Trump initially sought $20 billion, and in an updated complaint — at least $10 billion. In April 2026, the judge had already dismissed the lawsuit but allowed an amended version to be filed. Trump did so in May, but as the court decided, the new version also failed to fix the flaws.
Trump denies writing the letter and calls the publication a lie.
A representative of Dow Jones, which owns the newspaper, expressed satisfaction with the decision. Trump's lawyers said they intend to appeal the verdict.