Judge Dismisses Trump's $20 Billion Wall Street Journal Suit — This Time 'With Prejudice'

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed, with prejudice, Trump's $20 billion defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal, News Corp, the paper's CEO, its reporters, and chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch. The suit centered on a 2025 Journal story describing a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump's name in a 2003 album compiled for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday. Gayles ruled Trump's team failed to show "actual malice" — the standard public figures must meet in defamation suits — calling the suit "grasping at straws" to "manufacture" flaws in the Journal's reporting.

It is Gayles' second dismissal of the same claim: he threw out an earlier version in April 2026, finding Trump came "nowhere close" to showing malice. This time the dismissal is with prejudice, barring refiling in his court, underscoring the high bar public figures face suing news outlets over coverage of their personal conduct.

A spokesperson for Trump's legal team said he intends to keep pressing the case against the Journal and "all other defendants." A person familiar with his strategy told CBS News the ruling will likely be appealed to the 11th Circuit. No statement from the Journal appears in available reporting.