Judge Dismisses Trump Media's $3.8 Billion Defamation Suit Against The Washington Post

On July 7, 2026, U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber ruled in favor of The Washington Post, dismissing a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit that Trump Media and Technology Group had filed in 2023 over an article about a trust's potential stake in Truth Social. Ruling at the summary-judgment stage, Barber found that Trump Media "failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence" that the newspaper published with "actual malice," the standard public figures must meet in defamation cases. In May, the Post had issued a correction to two assertions in the 2023 story while defending its reporting.

The dismissal comes amid a broader pattern of large defamation and related suits the president and his affiliated company have pursued against news organizations, some of which have ended in multimillion-dollar settlements. A court applying the "actual malice" standard to reject a high-dollar claim reinforces existing First Amendment protections for press coverage of public figures.

The ruling resolves the case at the trial-court level; Trump Media could seek to appeal.