U.S. President Donald Trump looks on, as he departs the White House for Las Vegas, Nevada, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2026. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
President Donald Trump suffered a big defeat in court on Monday when a federal judge threw out his defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal — but his legal team isn't done. In fact, they have filed a motion demanding the court allow them to continue discovery, before they have even refiled their suit.
Their newly filed demand was first reported by Jacob Shamsian of Business Insider.
"At least one District Court has found that it is proper to allow a public-figure defamation plaintiff limited discovery before filing an Amended Complaint after being given leave to amend," argued the filing.
Furthermore, "Plaintiff's request for discovery is limited to the issues of actual malice, the findings of the Court's Order Dismissing the Complaint ... and the prima facie evidence of actual malice in the Article ... All of these issues impact the evaluation of Defendants' state of mind at the time of publication and are focused on Plaintiff's substantial burden of alleging the existence of actualmalice."
At issue in the lawsuit was an article published last July by the Journal, revealing a salacious birthday message Trump sent to deceased financier and child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has categorically denied that the letter, which includes a crude drawing of a naked female body and the message, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” was actually written by him, but has not provided any public evidence to dispute the article's reporting.