Trump Sues Wall Street Journal Over Epstein Birthday Letter Report

On July 18, 2025, President Trump filed a defamation lawsuit seeking at least $10 billion against The Wall Street Journal, its parent News Corp, publisher Dow Jones, owner Rupert Murdoch, and two reporters, over a report that Trump had sent Jeffrey Epstein a bawdy 50th-birthday letter in 2003 featuring a drawing of a naked woman. Trump denied writing the letter and filed suit less than a day after publication.

A federal judge in Florida later dismissed the initial complaint for failing to adequately allege actual malice, though Trump was given the opportunity to amend it, and he refiled an amended version months later. The case remained in litigation.

Press freedom advocates said the suit, regardless of its ultimate merits, fit a broader pattern of using costly, high-profile litigation against news organizations to signal displeasure with unfavorable coverage, a tactic that can deter aggressive reporting even when the underlying claims do not succeed in court.