Wall Street Journal defamation suit against Trump dismissed by US judge for $10 billion

 

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A US judge has dismissed a case against the publisher of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) over a story about ties the US president had to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

 Last summer, Trump filed a lawsuit against the American newspaper and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, in a federal court in Florida, seeking at least $10 billion (£7.4 billion) in compensation. In a report published on July 17, the president claimed that the newspaper had defamed him by claiming that Trump's name was in a 2003 "birthday book" given to Epstein. In that message, the Journal reported, Trump included a drawing of a woman's body.

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 The BBC's US news partner CBS News was informed by Trump's lawyer that the president will resubmit the "powerhouse" suit. Darrin Gayles, a US District Judge, stated that Trump had "nowhere close" to demonstrating the WSJ's actual malice toward him, which is the legal threshold for defamation in the US. The case was dismissed without prejudice, though Trump will be allowed to file a new, amended lawsuit.  He has until 27 April to do so.

 "Continue to hold accountable those who traffic in Fake News to mislead the American People," Trump's lawyer said. The standard for "actual malice" in defamation cases is that defendants must prove that a public statement was both false, and that the news organisation or individual who made the statement knew or should have known that it was false or acted in reckless disregard of its falsity.

In his ruling, Gayles said he had to dismiss the complaint because Trump had "not plausibly alleged that the Defendants published the Article with actual malice".

 The WSJ, owned by Murdoch's company News Corp., published exclusive reporting over the summer tying Trump and Epstein together through the birthday book.

 A picture of the birthday note was shared on social media by Democratic lawmakers a few weeks later, just before other Epstein-related documents were made public. The newspaper did not publish an image of the note at the time but the details of its written description matched the picture that was released by lawmakers.

 Trump denied writing the message and claimed that it was "a fake thing."

Source: BBC