Judge dismisses Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein letter

A federal judge in Miami on Saturday, October 31, 2026, dismissed with prejudice President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media executive Rupert Murdoch over a July 2025 report on a 2003 birthday letter Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Trump did not show the newspaper acted with actual malice, the legal standard for public figures, and wrote that the president was grasping at straws in trying to find fault with the reporting. The dismissal bars Trump from refiling the claims. The Journal said the letter bore Trump's name and was included in a 2003 album, and it reportedly featured a drawing of a naked woman. Trump denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime connected to Epstein. It was Gayles's second rejection of the suit, after he turned down an earlier version in April. Trump's lawyers said he will keep pressing the case, and a person familiar with the legal strategy told CBS News an appeal is likely. The White House did not immediately comment.

Left-leaning NPR and HuffPost lead with the judge's rebuke that Trump was grasping at straws, presenting the ruling as a blow to his broader clashes with news organizations. HuffPost lists his other suits against the BBC, The Associated Press, CNN, MS NOW and Politico and notes the White House did not immediately react. Right-leaning Daily Caller leads with the permanence of the ruling, describing the case as shut down, and features the actual-malice standard, the likely appeal and the lawyers' vow to press on. The Washington Times leads with the loss itself and says Trump failed to get past the First Amendment protections for the press. Both sides agree on the judge, the dismissal, the actual-malice finding and the grasping-at-straws language. They differ in emphasis: the left centers the feud with the press and the judge's tone, while the right centers the legal finality and the appeal. Alternative NewsNation stresses that the amended complaint fell short of pleading actual malice, and The Hindu adds Trump's denial and bipartisan pressure over the Epstein files.