A U.S. District Judge in Miami dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal's publisher on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Trump had not plausibly alleged the defendants published their article with actual malice, leading to the dismissal of both counts in the suit. The decision came in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where the case was filed as Trump v. Murdoch, case number 1:25-cv-23232.

Trump filed the $10 billion lawsuit in July 2025, one day after The Wall Street Journal published an article reporting on a letter purportedly from Trump included in a book celebrating Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. The letter, typewritten and framed by the outline of a naked woman, read: "Happy Birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret," and was signed "Donald."

The suit named Dow Jones & Co., News Corp, News Corp Chair Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, chief executive Robert Thomson, and two Journal reporters as defendants. Trump denied authoring the letter and claimed the reporting damaged his reputation.

Defendants maintained the article was accurate. They pointed to a subsequent release of the letter by the House Oversight Committee from Epstein's estate, which matched the description in the Journal's reporting. The Journal's lawyers also noted that the content aligned with Trump's public statements, including admissions of "locker room" talk.

The article appeared amid scrutiny over unreleased Epstein documents. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025, which Trump signed into law, leading to the release of millions of pages, images, and files.

Trump had cut ties with Epstein long before the financier's 2006 arrest. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida and faced federal sex-trafficking charges in 2019 before dying in jail while awaiting trial.

This dismissal follows other setbacks for Trump's media lawsuits. In September 2025, a federal judge tossed a $15 billion suit against The New York Times for violating court rules on complaint length, though Trump had 28 days to refile. The Wall Street Journal had moved to dismiss Trump's suit in September 2025, calling it a threat to the First Amendment and asserting the truth of their reporting.

Neither side immediately commented on the ruling or indicated plans to appeal.