Trump's US$10 Bln Lawsuit Against Wall Street Journal Thrown Out

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Bernama-dpa) -- A US district court in Florida has dismissed a US$10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the Wall Street Journal, reported German news agency dpa.

Judge Darrin P Gayles said on Monday that Trump had failed to plausibly demonstrate that the newspaper acted with "actual malice" in publishing a report about a congratulatory letter allegedly bearing his name and sent to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The complaint also came "nowhere close" to meeting key legal standards, the judge wrote. 

The Wall Street Journal had reported last year on a purported letter sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, which included Trump's name and suggested a further connection between the two men.

The letter contained sexually suggestive text and featured a sketch of a female figure drawn with a marker. Trump denies authoring it.

Following the report, he filed a lawsuit seeking US$10 billion in damages against the newspaper and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose portfolio includes the WSJ.

Trump has also taken legal action against the BBC, seeking a total of US$10 billion in damages.

The lawsuit, filed in Florida, relates to a dispute over the editing of a speech Trump gave on January 6, 2021, which the broadcaster used in its "Panorama" programme. That day, the US Capitol in Washington was stormed by supporters of the then-president.

The programme aired shortly before the US presidential election in November 2024. A hearing in the case is scheduled for February 2027.

Trump has gone after a slew of media organisations since he first became president, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN.

--BERNAMA-dpa