Trump lawsuit against WSJ over lewd Epstein birthday letter dismissed

A judge dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for alleging he sent Jeffrey Epstein a lewd birthday note, but said Trump may amend the lawsuit and refile it within two weeks.

The April 13 ruling turned on whether Trump had made allegations in his lawsuit that, if true, would mean The Journal defamed him in a story July 17 reporting he had sent the late sex offender a lewd letter for his 50th birthday. On the day the article was published, Trump called the letter a "FAKE" on social media and vowed to sue the newspaper. The next day, he made good on that promise.

The Journal has stood by its reporting.

What the article says "is true," the newspaper said in a Sept. 22 court filing requesting Trump's lawsuit be dismissed. It noted that Epstein's estate provided the House Oversight Committee with a birthday book containing an identical letter, which the committee publicly released.

Trump posted on social media April 13 that he would be re-filing the lawsuit, saying he has a "powerful case."

The letter was one of many collected by Ghislaine Maxwell, a close associate of Epstein's, for a birthday album in 2003, The Journal reported, citing documents it had reviewed. It includes Trump's name and several typewritten lines framed within an outline of a naked woman's body, with "Donald" as a signature mimicking pubic hair.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted of sex trafficking a minor to Epstein. Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting his own sex trafficking trial. He was convicted in 2008 of two Florida prostitution crimes, including one involving minors.

Florida federal Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled Trump didn't make a plausible allegation in his lawsuit that The Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, published the story with "actual malice," a legal term referring to publishing something while either knowing it was false or with a reckless disregard for whether it was false.

Trump can amend his lawsuit to address the question and refile it by April 27, Gayles ruled.

Trump had a long personal friendship with Epstein, but it ruptured around 2004. Trump said on social media in July that he had personally warned Murdoch, who is a political conservative, that the letter was fake and that he would sue if The Journal published it.

This story has been updated with additional information.