As Trump continues to obsess over Iran, his billion-dollar lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal gets dismissed by a federal judge
Donald Trump may not be finished with Iran, but the court has definitely concluded the lawsuit he filed against The Wall Street Journal for attempting to “defame” him. Well, at least for now.
On April 17, 2026, several news outlets reported that the defamation lawsuit Donald Trump filed against The Wall Street Journal for allegedly misreporting his relationship with disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had been dismissed by a federal judge due to lack of evidence. However, the court has given Trump a second chance to present his case through a second filing.
Federal judge dismisses Trump’s billion-dollar lawsuit against The WSJ
After repeatedly facing setbacks in his efforts against Iran, especially concerning regaining access to the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump is facing another defeat. This time, it involves a lawsuit he filed in July 2025 against The Wall Street Journal after they published an article stating that Trump had sent a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein featuring a lewd drawing and sexual innuendos. Trump claimed that the WSJ was attempting to defame him and damage his reputation by making false statements about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. In his lawsuit against the paper, Trump and his attorneys sought more than $10 billion in damages for the paper’s “glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting.”
On April 16, 2026, it was reported that a federal judge dismissed Trump’s case against The Wall Street Journal because Trump failed to prove that the paper’s reporting about his relationship with Epstein was defamatory, thus ruling out any evidence of malice by the reporters. In his ruling, according to an article published by Freedom Forum on April 16, 2026, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles has said, “Actual malice requires more than a departure from reasonable journalistic standards … [t]hus, a failure to investigate, standing on its own, does not indicate [its] presence.”
Donald Trump announces re-filing of the case against The Wall Street Journal
As previously mentioned, Trump has been given the chance to refile his case against The Wall Street Journal, which was recently dismissed by a federal judge. On April 13, 2026, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would indeed be refiling the case because he believed it was a “powerful” one.
“Our powerful case against The Wall Street Journal, and other defendants, was asked to be re-filed by the Judge. It is not a termination, it is a suggested re-filing, and we will be, as per the Order, re-filing an updated lawsuit on or before April 27th,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
