US Court Permanently Throws Out Trump Defamation Case Against Wall Street Journal
US District Judge Darrin P. Gayles determined that Trump had failed to provide sufficient grounds to show that the newspaper published the report with “actual malice.”
The judge also rejected Trump's claim that the publication should have refrained from running the story after he denied authoring the letter. Gayles said imposing such a requirement would conflict with constitutional protections for freedom of the press under the First Amendment.
“Were that the law, any time a public figure or his team denies an accusation, journalists would be immediately blocked from publishing negative or contradictory press,” Gayles wrote.
The court had initially dismissed the case in April but gave Trump an opportunity to submit an amended complaint. However, the judge concluded that the revised filing did not resolve the legal shortcomings, leading to a dismissal with prejudice, which bars the case from being filed again in the same court.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the newspaper's parent company, welcomed the ruling, saying, “We’re pleased with the court’s decision,”
Trump's legal representatives have signaled that they intend to challenge the decision through an appeal.
The president first filed the $20 billion lawsuit in July 2025 against the newspaper, its parent companies, Rupert Murdoch and two journalists involved in the report. His amended filing later sought at least $10 billion in damages.
Trump has repeatedly rejected claims that he wrote the letter and accused the newspaper of deliberately publishing false information.
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