A federal judge in the United States on Saturday dismissed president Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for the second time this year. The court ruled that Trump had failed to establish that the newspaper acted with “actual malice” in its reporting on an alleged birthday letter bearing his name and linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.US district Judge Darrin P Gayles, sitting in Miami, dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning Trump cannot refile the same case. Describing the president’s arguments as “grasping at straws”, the judge said the amended complaint failed to meet the legal threshold for establishing defamation.According to the Associated Press (AP), this is the second time Gayles has dismissed Trump’s lawsuit this year. The judge first threw out the case in April, ruling that Trump had failed to sufficiently argue that the newspaper published the report with actual malice. However, Gayles allowed the president to file an amended complaint, which was submitted in May. The revised lawsuit has now also been dismissed.“The Amended Complaint falls short of pleading actual malice,” Gayles wrote.“Indeed, the allegations regarding malice are conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the Article, and often irrelevant to whether Defendants knew or should have known that the statements in the Article were purportedly false,” he added.The lawsuit arose from a Wall Street Journal report published last year about a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the newspaper said bore Trump’s name. The material was reportedly included in an album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.According to the newspaper, the letter was collected by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. It contained text framed by the outline of what appeared to be a hand-drawn naked woman and ended with the words: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”Trump denied writing the letter and described the report as “false, malicious, and defamatory”.His lawsuit accused Dow Jones, the newspaper’s parent company, Rupert Murdoch and other defendants of having “knowingly and recklessly” published “numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements”. It also alleged “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” and sought $10 billion in damages.Gayles rejected the argument that the newspaper should have withheld its report following Trump’s denial.“Rather, it informed readers that President Trump decried the Letter as a fake and denied writing it,” the judge wrote.In his ruling, Gayles cited the US Supreme Court’s 1964 judgment in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which requires public figures to establish that a publication knowingly made false statements or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.The dismissal comes amid Trump’s wider legal confrontations with media organisations, including disputes involving the BBC and The Associated Press. CNN, MS NOW and Politico have also pursued legal action over their White House access.Trump’s legal team could challenge the latest ruling through an appeal.
