U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami on Saturday permanently dismissed Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The suit challenged a story about Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Gayles ruled that Trump had not shown actual malice, which the law requires in a defamation case. The judge said the amended complaint attempted to “manufacture” flaws in the Journal’s reporting.
The story, published last year, described a letter and drawing bearing Trump’s name that the newspaper said were included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter and called the report “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
