Trump refiles $10 billion defamation suit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday card story

The refiled complaint

President Donald Trump on Wednesday refiled a defamation lawsuit seeking at least $10 billion in damages against The Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The move comes after a judge threw out an earlier version of the suit in April over legal deficiencies. The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court, is one of several Trump has brought in his personal capacity against news organizations, part of what critics say is a wider pressure campaign against the media.

The disputed article

The case centers on a July 2025 article describing a birthday card sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. The Journal reported that the card featured a drawing of a woman's body outline, with Trump's signature placed at the height of her intimate areas. The message reportedly ended with the words: "Happy birthday — and may every day be another wonderful mystery." Trump has consistently denied authoring the card or the drawing, calling it fake.

The card is fake.

Legal hurdles and the 'actual malice' standard

U.S. District Court Judge Darrin P. Gayles, an Obama appointee, dismissed Trump's first complaint in April. The judge found that Trump had not met the "actual malice" legal standard required for public figures in defamation cases, which demands evidence that a defendant published a statement they knew or should have known was false. The court stated that certain criteria for admitting the lawsuit were "by far" not met. In the amended complaint, Trump's lawyers now argue that the Journal "recklessly disregarded whether the defamatory statements were true" at the time of publication.

At the time of publication, defendants recklessly disregarded whether the defamatory statements were true and/or they purposefully avoided the discovery of the truth.

Named defendants

The refiled complaint names the Journal's parent company Dow Jones, Rupert Murdoch, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, and reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo, who authored the report. Trump's lawyers claim the defendants failed to include the letter or the alleged drawing in their reporting, and did not provide sufficient evidence that Trump was the author. The suit states these deficiencies stem from the fact that "no authentic letter or drawing exists," alleging the entire story was fabricated to "defame" Trump.

Broader media pressure campaign

The lawsuit is part of a pattern in which the White House is putting critical media under heavy pressure through lawsuits and enormous damage claims. Trump currently has cases pending against The New York Times ($15 billion for unfair reporting), the BBC ($10 billion for suggestive editing of a speech), and the Des Moines Register (for publishing a poll unfavorable to Trump). He also settled with CBS News over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview, and ABC News agreed to pay $15 million after an anchor used the word "rape" where "sexual abuse" should have been used.

We have full confidence in the rigour and accuracy of the WSJ's reporting and will vigorously defend the lawsuit.

The Epstein connection

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019. His case generated conspiracy theories popular among Trump's base, who believed the government was covering up Epstein's ties to the rich and powerful. Trump has said he parted ways with Epstein before the financier's legal troubles became public in 2006, maintaining they were only superficially acquainted and had fallen out over a business dispute. This week, CNN also reported that the U.S. Justice Department had opened an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, now 82, for alleged perjury in her testimony that led to Trump's liability for sexual abuse in the 1990s.