A federal judge in Miami on Saturday threw out President Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, saying the president was "grasping at straws," NPR reports.
The ruling
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. He ruled that Trump failed to show the defendants published defamatory statements with actual malice, as the law requires of public figures, and said the suit tried to "manufacture" flaws in the Journal's reporting. Citing the Supreme Court's 1964 decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, he wrote that the amended complaint's allegations about malice were "conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the Article, and often irrelevant." He also noted the Journal's story told readers that Trump called the letter a fake and denied writing it.
What the suit was about
The suit targeted a story the Journal published last year about a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the paper said bore Trump's name and was included in a 2003 birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein, reportedly collected by Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump denied writing it and called the story "false, malicious, and defamatory." The complaint alleged the paper "knowingly and recklessly" published false statements, causing "overwhelming financial and reputational harm."
History of the case
Gayles first dismissed the suit in April for failing to argue the article was published with malicious intent, but allowed Trump to file an amended complaint, which he did in May.
Other media fights
NPR notes the ruling is a blow to Trump, who has pursued adversarial relationships with news organizations in his second term. He is also in lawsuits involving the BBC and The Associated Press, and CNN, MS NOW and Politico are suing him for restored access to the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sources: NPR