A US federal judge on Saturday, October 31, 2026, dismissed with prejudice President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, according to NPR. The Trump Wall Street Journal lawsuit dismissed in this ruling centered on a Journal report about a birthday letter Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning Trump cannot file an amended version, according to The Hindu. Trump had filed an amended version after an initial version was turned down in April, according to the same report.
The judge wrote that Trump had both times failed to establish that the defendants "acted with actual malice," according to RNZ.
The Journal story, published in July 2025, detailed Trump’s alleged 2003 birthday letter to Epstein, which apparently featured a drawing of a naked woman, according to The Hindu. The House Oversight Committee last year published a copy of what it described as Trump’s alleged birthday note to Epstein, a short dialogue between "Donald" and "Jeffrey," according to RNZ.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any criminal offenses connected to the Epstein affair, according to RNZ. The Journal story drew scrutiny from Democrats and from members of Trump’s own Republican Party, who rejected his attempts to downplay the saga as a hoax and called for the full release of Epstein legal files. Trump had fought for months to prevent the Justice Department from releasing the "Epstein Files" but eventually signed a law passed by Congress requiring their publication, the sources say.
The ruling comes days before the November 3 US midterm elections. Democrats have reportedly spent more than $35 million on Epstein-related advertisements, according to the sources.
The sources do not say whether Trump plans to appeal. The dismissal with prejudice bars an amended complaint in this court. No response from Trump, his lawyers, the Journal, News Corp or Murdoch was included in the sources available. The judge’s full reasoning beyond the actual malice finding is also not included.
NPR’s account was limited to a headline and opening lines, so the details reported here rest mainly on The Hindu and RNZ.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.