President Trump is taking another swing at The Wall Street Journal — refiling his massive $10 billion defamation lawsuit over the paper’s bombshell report linking him to an alleged birthday card sent to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Miami, accuses the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper and several top executives of knowingly pushing what Trump calls a “false and malicious” story that caused “overwhelming” damage to both his reputation and finances.
At the center of the legal war is a document the Journal reported on last summer — an alleged birthday message purportedly signed by Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.
According to the WSJ, the note included a sexually suggestive sketch of a naked woman along with the line: “Happy Birthday, may every day be another wonderful secret.”
The letter was reportedly part of a birthday album assembled by Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for child sex trafficking after helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls.
Trump has repeatedly denied authoring the message, insisting the signature is fake and blasting the Journal’s reporting as a politically motivated hit piece.
“This is another fake story,” Trump said previously, dismissing the allegations and accusing the media of trying to tie him to Epstein despite no evidence he participated in Epstein’s crimes.
The renewed complaint names media titan Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, and Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo as defendants.
Trump’s first lawsuit was tossed in April by U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, who ruled the president failed to meet the high legal threshold for proving “actual malice” — the standard public figures must satisfy in defamation cases by showing reporters knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
But Trump’s legal team is now back with an updated filing, arguing the Journal ignored serious questions surrounding the authenticity of the alleged letter before publishing the explosive story.
The legal battle is the latest front in Trump’s escalating war with major media outlets during his second term in office.
The president has also targeted The New York Times and the BBC with legal threats and litigation as he continues hammering what he frequently calls the “fake news media.”
Trump’s past association with Epstein has long fueled headlines and speculation, though the two reportedly had a falling out years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. Trump has maintained he cut ties with Epstein and banned him from Mar-a-Lago after an incident involving a club member’s daughter.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial in a death officially ruled a suicide — though the circumstances surrounding his death continue to fuel conspiracy theories and public suspicion.
The Wall Street Journal has stood by its reporting and has not indicated any retraction is forthcoming.
