Trump's case against the Wall Street Journal over Epstein 'birthday card' thrown out by federal judge

By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 14:47, 13 April 2026 | Updated: 14:55, 13 April 2026 Donald Trump's case against the Wall Street Journal over the Jeffrey Epstein 'birthday card' has been thrown out by a federal judge.  Trump sued the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper for $10 billion in damages after it published the letter last year, allegedly signed by the President and featuring a lewd drawing with the message: 'May every day be another wonderful secret.' The President denied writing the letter and said the signature was not his. Florida District Judge Darrin P. Gayles said in his order on Monday that Trump failed to show that the article was published with 'actual malice' - the legal standard for proving defamation.  'President Trump argues that this allegation shows that Defendants acted with serious doubts about the truth of their reporting and, therefore, with actual malice. The Court disagrees,' he wrote.  Trump and Melania with Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000 The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.