President Donald Trump has suffered another courtroom defeat after a federal judge shut down his renewed effort to obtain at least $10 billion from the Wall Street Journal over its reporting about his past association with Jeffrey Epstein.
The ruling, delivered on Saturday in Florida, prevents Trump from pursuing the same defamation case again before the court. Judge Darrin P. Gayles dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice, concluding that the president had not provided sufficient grounds to establish his allegations against the newspaper.
The decision marks the end of a legal campaign that Trump revived in May after his initial attempt failed. It also delivers a significant victory to the newspaper, whose reporting had attracted the president’s anger and a demand for enormous financial compensation.
In explaining his decision, Gayles said Trump had repeated the shortcomings that undermined his earlier complaint.
“As with his first attempt, he has failed,” the judge wrote.
Newspaper’s investigation receives judicial backing
A major consideration in the ruling was how the Wall Street Journal handled its investigation before publishing the disputed report.
Gayles described the newspaper’s work as a “thoughtful and detailed investigation”, pointing to efforts by its journalists to obtain comments from Trump and other officials before publication.
The judge was particularly dismissive of arguments in the amended complaint that attempted to portray the reporting process as defective.
“Grasping at straws, the Amended Complaint attempts to manufacture flaws with the investigation,” Gayles wrote.
The assessment suggests that the court found no convincing basis in Trump’s revised allegations to conclude that the newspaper had deliberately or recklessly disregarded the truth.
For the president, the ruling means that his attempt to turn the dispute into a multibillion-dollar defamation award has failed once again.
Trump’s denial was not enough to establish wrongdoing
Trump’s legal representatives maintained that the newspaper should have dropped its report after he denied involvement with Epstein.
However, the judge rejected the suggestion that a denial from a person mentioned in a news investigation automatically obliges journalists to abandon their findings.
“That is not what the actual malice standard requires and runs afoul of the First Amendment,” Gayles wrote.
The legal principle at the heart of the case is especially important in disputes involving public figures.
Under American law, prominent individuals seeking damages for defamation must establish that a publisher knew the disputed statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its accuracy.
A disagreement with a report, even when accompanied by a strong denial, does not by itself satisfy that requirement.
The judge’s decision therefore turned on the evidence and legal arguments presented in court, rather than simply on Trump’s rejection of the newspaper’s reporting.
$10 billion compensation demand will not proceed
Trump’s original legal action sought a minimum of $10 billion in damages from the Wall Street Journal.
He renewed the case on May 28, 2026, after the earlier attempt failed, maintaining that the newspaper’s reporting about his connection to Epstein had harmed his reputation.
Saturday’s judgment has now closed the door on that particular action.
A dismissal with prejudice means the same claim cannot simply be refiled before the court after making further amendments. It is a final dismissal of the case, rather than a temporary rejection that permits another attempt to correct the complaint.
The financial demand, therefore, will not be considered through this lawsuit.
The outcome also means that the newspaper does not have to continue defending itself against this particular defamation action in the Southern District of Florida.
Epstein’s associations continue to attract scrutiny
The dispute arose from reporting about Trump’s past association with Epstein, whose connections with influential people have remained a subject of considerable public interest.
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Epstein, a convicted sex offender, became the focus of major criminal investigations and widespread scrutiny over his relationships with wealthy and powerful individuals.
The Wall Street Journal’s coverage brought Trump’s association with the financier into another legal and political controversy.
The president challenged the newspaper’s reporting, leading to the demand for billions of dollars in damages.
However, Saturday’s ruling does not settle every question surrounding Epstein’s wider network or determine the truth of every allegation involving individuals associated with him.
Its scope is narrower: whether Trump had established the legal basis required to pursue a defamation claim against the newspaper.
Gayles concluded that he had not.
What the ruling means for press freedom
The judgment highlights the demanding standard American law imposes on public figures who take media organisations to court over allegedly defamatory reports.
The First Amendment protects freedom of expression and provides important safeguards for journalism, particularly when publications investigate the conduct and associations of influential individuals.
Those protections do not give newspapers unlimited freedom to publish false information. However, public figures must provide convincing evidence of actual malice before they can secure a defamation judgment.
By dismissing Trump’s amended complaint, Gayles rejected the president’s attempt to meet that threshold in this case.
The ruling brings an end to his second legal effort against the Wall Street Journal over its Epstein-related reporting and leaves the newspaper with a decisive courtroom victory.
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