A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Miami-based U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled the president had not made a valid legal claim that he was defamed in an article about a drawing he allegedly made in a letter to the late sex offender as part of a birthday book compiled in 2003, the newspaper reported.
“Because President Trump has not plausibly alleged that defendants published the article with actual malice, both Counts must be dismissed,” wrote Gayles, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.
Trump is allowed to file a new amended lawsuit, the judge ruled, and set a deadline for April 27 to rectify his complaint.
The Journal reported in July that a letter with typewritten text, signed "Donald," inside a doodle of a female figure referred to a "wonderful secret" shared with Epstein.
Trump sued the newspaper's publisher Dow Jones & Co. and its parent company News Corp the following day, and the complaint also named as defendants News Corp Chair Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, its chief executive, Robert Thomson, and two Journal reporters.