Judge dismisses Trump's $10bn lawsuit against Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over reporting on Epstein birthday 'letter'
A judge ruled that the President failed to make the argument that the article was published with the intent to be malicious
Donald Trump has had his $10 billion (£7.43bn) defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal dismissed over their reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
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The claim came after the publication reported details of an alleged birthday letter to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which was allegedly signed by Trump.
The letter, which the President claims does not exist, featured a message which read "may every day be another wonderful secret".
The alleged letter included a hand-drawn image showing the silhouette of a naked woman with a typed letter of an imagined conversation between the two.
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It was supposedly part of a leather-bound album gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday, roughly three years before sexual abuse allegations emerged about the infamous financier and socialite.
It was first published by The Wall Street Journal and then shared with members of Congress by the Epstein estate last year.
Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit last summer and claimed that "no authentic letter or drawing exists".
He also blasted the story as a "false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS 'article'" and blasted the publication as a "useless rag".
He wrote on his TruthSocial platform: "I hope Rupert and his 'friends' are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case."
The Wall Street Journal is part of News Corp, owned by Murdoch.
But rejecting the lawsuit on Monday, Florida District Judge Darrin P. Gayles argued that he failed to show that the article was published with "actual malice", which is the legal standard for proving defamation.
Judge Gayles ruled that the President came "nowhere close" to meeting the standard.
He wrote: "President Trump argues that this allegation shows that Defendants acted with serious doubts about the truth of their reporting and, therefore, with actual malice. The Court disagrees."
Lawyers for the newspaper said the claim was an attempt to "silence a newspaper for publishing speech that was subsequently proven true by documents released by Congress to the American public".
They added: "By its very nature, this meritless lawsuit threatens to chill the speech of those who dare to publish content that the president does not like."
Trump will be allowed to file an amended complaint.
He has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and insists he cut ties with him before he went under investigation.