'Grasping at straws': US judge permanently throws out Trump's $10bn lawsuit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday letter

Judge Darrin P. Gayles of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Saturday dismissed the suit with prejudice, permanently closing the door on any refiling. Trump had sought $10 billion in damages, alleging the Journal showed actual malice when it published a 2025 report about a lewd birthday note to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — a letter the president insists he never wrote.

The letter, allegedly bearing Trump's signature, contained a racy poem and a sharpie drawing of a naked woman, ending 'may every day be another wonderful secret.'

Gayles ruled Trump was 'grasping at straws' by arguing his denial alone should have stopped publication, writing that standard 'runs afoul of the First Amendment.'

A Trump spokesman vowed the president 'will continue to press forward' — despite this being the second time the same judge threw the case out.