The federal court for the Southern District of Florida has finally dismissed Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. The US president has sought compensation for a 2025 publication that mentioned his alleged letter to Jeffrey Epstein.
The key question was not about the amount of possible damages, but about the legal standard for proving defamation. The court noted that the plaintiff did not confirm the existence of "actual malice" on the part of the editors. For the purpose of such a requirement, it is not enough to simply disagree with the publication: it must be proven that the defendant knowingly disseminated false information or acted while ignoring the issue of its reliability. The court considered that the claims presented were not enough.
The claim was dismissed while prohibiting the resubmission of the same claim. The reported $10 billion in damages will not be returned in this case. The decision concerns the legal validity of the allegations against the editors and does not in itself confirm the authenticity of the letter in question.
Ξeconomy.