Trump sued Wall Street Journal reporters and Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion over Epstein reporting

On July 18, 2025, President Trump filed an 18-page, $10 billion defamation lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Dow Jones, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson, and Wall Street Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo. The suit came one day after the Journal reported that Trump had sent Jeffrey Epstein a 2003 birthday letter containing a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman and a signature reading "Donald," with text ending "may every day be another wonderful secret." Trump denied writing the letter and called the story "false, malicious, defamatory" reporting. A Dow Jones spokesperson said the company had "full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting" and would "vigorously defend" against the suit.

Naming individual reporters as defendants in an 18-page complaint seeking $10 billion — an amount with no realistic relationship to compensable reputational harm — functions less as a plausible legal claim than as a warning to journalists and outlets covering the president that unfavorable reporting can trigger ruinous litigation regardless of its merits.

Updates

2026-04-13 — Federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, allowed refiling [2]

U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles dismissed Trump's lawsuit without prejudice, ruling Trump had failed to plausibly allege the Journal acted with "actual malice," relying instead on "formulaic" claims that came "nowhere close" to the legal standard for a public figure's defamation claim. Gayles gave Trump until April 27 to file an amended complaint.

2026-05-28 — Trump refiled the $10 billion lawsuit [3]

Trump's legal team refiled the defamation suit against Dow Jones and the other original defendants, again seeking $10 billion and alleging the Journal's reporters "recklessly disregarded" whether the letter was genuine. The Journal's publisher said it had "full confidence" in its reporting.

2026-06-10 — Wall Street Journal moved to dismiss refiled suit, sought anti-SLAPP fees and discovery stay [7]

The Wall Street Journal filed a second motion to dismiss Trump's amended complaint, arguing it "repackaged" already-rejected claims and again failed to plead the actual-malice standard required of a public-figure plaintiff. The paper also sought attorney's fees under Florida's anti-SLAPP statute and asked the court to stay discovery pending a ruling. No ruling had issued as of this writing.

2026-07-24 — WHCD award presentation disclosed reporter's address had been exposed via the litigation, forcing her family to relocate [4, 5]

At the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, CNN's Wolf Blitzer presented Journal reporters — including Safdar and Palazzolo — with the Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability for their Epstein reporting. Introducing the award in front of Trump, Blitzer said Safdar's personal address had been revealed through the litigation against her, forcing her and her family to relocate from their home. Some audience members cheered as Blitzer described the suit and Trump's refiling of it. Trump later shook hands with Safdar and the other honored reporters on stage.