A federal judge dismissed US President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Monday over a story about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
US District Judge Darrin P Gayles in Florida wrote in the order that Trump failed to argue that the article was published with malicious intent but gave the president an opportunity to file an amended complaint.
Trump filed the lawsuit in July, following a promise to sue the newspaper soon after it shed new light on its confirmed relationship with Epstein for publishing an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said was signed by Trump and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday.
The letter was later made public by Congress, which subpoenaed records from Epstein’s estate. Trump denied writing it, calling the story “false, malicious and defamatory”.
Lawyers for The Wall Street Journal and Murdochwhose news company News Corporation owns the newspaper, had asked Gayles to decide that the information in the article is true and therefore cannot be defamatory.
However, the judge wrote that “whether President Trump was the author of the Letter or a friend of Epstein are questions of fact that cannot be decided at this stage of the case”.
