A federal district judge in Florida dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation law suit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal. But, the ruling does not entirely eliminate the possibility of reviving the case in the future.
U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles issued the order Monday, finding that Trump’s legal team had not sufficiently argued that the newspaper published the report with actual malice.
According to court records, Trump has until April 27 to submit a revised complaint.
In July, The Wall Street Journal published a story about Trump’s past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which led to the legal fight.
The article described that Epstein got a birthday album in 2003 that had a letter and a drawing of a naked woman in it, both of which were signed by Trump.
The Journal said that Congress got records from Epstein’s estate and made them public later.
Trump has denied writing the letter or creating the drawing, calling the report false, malicious, and “fake.” His lawsuit argues that no authentic document exists showing him using the language described in the article.
Several hours after the ruling on Monday, Trump addressed the decision on Truth Social. He said it was “not a termination” but a “suggested re-filing” of his case and said he would submit an updated lawsuit by the court-ordered deadline.
Now, Trump’s attorneys will have to revise their arguments on the newspaper’s intent and the legal standard of actual malice if they want to move forward with the $10 billion claim.
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