A judge threw out Donald Trump’s $10 billion libel suit against the Wall Street Journal and parent company News Corp., dealing a blow to the president’s ongoing campaign of litigation against the media.

The decision Monday in federal court in Miami largely vindicates a 2025 story that suggested Trump sent a lewd birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein more than two decades ago.

The judge said the complaint failed to meet the legal standard for a defamation suit but gave Trump until April 27 to file a new complaint.

Trump sued over a July 17 story that said he’d sent a “bawdy” birthday note to Epstein in 2003, typed within a sketched outline of a naked woman and signed with the president’s signature in the pubic area. The note ends with: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has repeatedly claimed the note is fake.

The president’s complaint “comes nowhere close” to meeting the legal standard for public figures to allege defamation, US District Judge Darrin Gayles said in his ruling.

Such lawsuits must show that an article was published with “actual malice,” meaning the publication knew it was false or recklessly disregarded the possibility that it might be.

“Quite the opposite,” Gayles said. “The article explains that, before running the story, defendants contacted President Trump, Justice Department officials, and the FBI for comment. President Trump responded with his denial, the Justice Department did not respond at all, and the FBI declined to comment. In short, the complaint and article confirm that defendants attempted to investigate.”

Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling could be a bellwether for Trump’s other lawsuits against the media, which he has broadly accused of covering his presidency unfairly. In addition to his suit against the Journal, Trump also has multibillion-dollar defamation suits pending against the British Broadcasting Corp. and the New York Times, both of which deny wrongdoing.

Trump, whose past ties to Epstein have dogged his presidency, has said he cut ties with the financier years before his misconduct became public and that he was never aware of his wrongdoing. Epstein died while in federal custody in 2019, and his death was ruled suicide.

The note over which Trump sued was compiled with other letters into a “birthday book” for the financier’s 50th birthday. The book, including Trump’s note, was later handed over by Epstein’s estate in response to a congressional subpoena.

Trump’s suit against the Journal also named publisher Dow Jones & Co. and News Corp. Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch. The defendants argued that Trump’s lawsuit was an attempt to chill the media’s criticism of his presidency, and that he’d failed to provide evidence showing the story was false.

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Published on April 14, 2026