April 13 - A federal court on Monday dismissed Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal that challenged an article asserting that the former president's name appeared on a 2003 birthday greeting for the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, sitting in Miami, concluded that the legal threshold for defamation claims brought by public figures - the "actual malice" standard - was not satisfied in the complaint as filed. Under that standard, public figures must show not only that a published statement was false but also that the publisher knew it was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
Gayles gave Trump leave to revise his claim, setting a deadline of April 27 for an amended complaint. In the original filing, Trump described the alleged birthday greeting as "fake nL6N3TP0P8" and sought $10 billion in damages, asserting harm to his reputation.
Dow Jones, the publisher that owns the Wall Street Journal, has defended the accuracy of the July 17, 2025, article challenged in the lawsuit.
Context inside the filing
The ruling turned on the court's determination that the pleadings did not sufficiently allege that the Journal published the disputed account with knowledge of its falsehood or with reckless disregard for whether it was false. By allowing an amended complaint, the judge kept open the possibility that additional or clearer factual allegations could be presented.
Related note on market commentary included in court filings
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The court decision is procedural at this stage: the dismissal was not a determination on the truth of the underlying factual assertion about the greeting but rather a finding that the complaint, as pled, failed to meet the heightened legal standard for defamation claims involving public figures.
The judge’s order gives the plaintiff a limited window to amend and refile; absent a timely or adequately revised complaint, the dismissal could become final.