An article summarized by The Hill:
President Trump refiled his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones & Company over a Wall Street Journal article about a birthday letter allegedly sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. A federal judge had dismissed Trump’s original lawsuit last month, saying he failed to adequately show “actual malice,” but allowed him time to submit an amended complaint with additional evidence.
In the expanded filing, Trump’s legal team again argues the article caused severe financial and reputational damage and contained false and defamatory claims. Trump has denied writing the 2003 birthday letter, which included a message reading, “Happy Birthday, may every day be another wonderful secret,” alongside a drawing and what appeared to be his signature. The complaint argues that Trump’s denial — and statements from Ghislaine Maxwell indicating she had no knowledge of the letter — undermine the article’s claims, and accuses the newspaper of knowingly publishing false information or failing to properly investigate.
The lawsuit names Dow Jones, its parent company News Corp, CEO Robert Thomson, Chair Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, and two Wall Street Journal reporters as defendants. The defendants have defended their reporting and moved to dismiss the case, saying they stand by the article’s accuracy. The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions Trump has pursued against major media organizations, including cases involving The New York Times, the BBC, and The Des Moines Register.
