A federal judge has permanently dismissed President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, ruling that Trump failed to meet the legal standard required to prove defamation.

US District Judge Darrin Gayles issued the ruling on Saturday in federal court in Miami, dismissing the case "with prejudice," meaning it cannot be refiled.

The lawsuit stemmed from a story published by The Wall Street Journal on July 17, 2025, describing a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the paper said bore Trump's name and was included in a 2003 birthday album compiled for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

According to the newspaper's reporting, the letter contained typed text framed by a hand-drawn outline of what appeared to be a naked woman, with Trump's signature at the bottom near the figure's pelvic region. The letter reportedly included a joking reference that "enigmas never age" and ended with the words: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret."

The letters in the album were reportedly collected by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein's sex-trafficking scheme.

Trump vehemently denied writing the letter, the signature, or producing the drawing, and called the Journal's story "false, malicious, and defamatory." His lawsuit, filed the day after the article was published, accused the paper and its reporters of having "knowingly and recklessly" published "numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements" that caused "overwhelming financial and reputational harm" to the president.

In his 20-page ruling, Gayles found that Trump's legal team had failed to prove the defendants made defamatory statements with "actual malice," the standard required under US law for public figures pursuing defamation claims. That standard, established by the Supreme Court's landmark 1964 ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, requires proof that a media outlet knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

"The Amended Complaint falls short of pleading actual malice," Gayles wrote. "Indeed, the allegations regarding malice are conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the Article, and often irrelevant to whether Defendants knew or should have known that the statements in the Article were purportedly false."

The judge described the lawsuit as "grasping at straws" and said Trump's team had attempted "to manufacture flaws" in the Journal's investigative work, which he characterised as a "thoughtful and detailed investigation."

Gayles also noted that the Journal's article had not ignored Trump's denial. "Rather, it informed readers that President Trump decried the Letter as a fake and denied writing it," the judge wrote.

Trump's legal team had argued that because Trump denied writing the letter when contacted by the Journal prior to publication, the paper should have abandoned its investigation and not published the story. Gayles rejected that argument outright.

"But that is not what the actual malice standard requires and runs afoul of the First Amendment," Gayles wrote. He added that if that were the law, "any time a public figure or his team denies an accusation, journalists would be immediately blocked from publishing negative or contradictory press — a result that flies in the face of the 'American privilege to speak one's mind.'"

This was not the first time Gayles dismissed the case. In April, he had thrown out an earlier version of the lawsuit, ruling that Trump had failed to adequately argue the article was published with malicious intent, but gave the president the opportunity to refile an amended complaint. Trump's team did so in May, seeking $10 billion in damages, reduced from the original claim of $20 billion. Saturday's dismissal with prejudice closes the matter permanently.

The Journal's story was published at a time when Trump's administration was facing intense bipartisan criticism over its handling of documents related to Epstein's alleged sex crimes. A copy of the birthday letter was later released through the House Oversight Committee.

Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for sex in Florida in 2008 and served 13 months in jail. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges but died in a New York jail cell before trial. His death was ruled a suicide. Legal advocates estimate his victims number in the hundreds.

The White House did not immediately respond publicly to Saturday's ruling.