Trump refiles $10 billion defamation suit against WSJ over report on Epstein ties
NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday reopened a defamation lawsuit seeking at least $10 billion in damages over the Wall Street Journal’s reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein after a judge rejected an earlier version citing legal flaws.
The lawsuit is one of several that Trump has filed against news organizations in his personal capacity; It’s part of what critics say is a broader pressure campaign against the media.
• In Trump’s lawsuit, it was stated that Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper damaged Trump’s reputation with an article stating that the birthday card given to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein bore Trump’s signature. Trump and his lawyers said the card was fake, even after it was released by lawmakers investigating Epstein’s case.
• According to the amended lawsuit, Trump is seeking at least $10 billion in damages. He had sought the same amount before.
• “At the time of publication, Defendants recklessly disregarded whether the defamatory statements were true and/or deliberately avoided discovery of the truth,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the amended complaint.
• The lawsuit filed in Miami federal court named Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its CEO Robert Thomson, as well as two Wall Street Journal reporters, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo, as defendants, saying they slandered Trump and caused him “major” financial and reputational damage.
• Dow Jones said it has full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of the Journal’s reporting and will vigorously defend the case.
• Disgraced financier and sex offender Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019. His case has led to conspiracy theories that have become popular among Trump’s supporters, who believe the government covered up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful. Trump said he parted ways with Epstein before the financier’s legal troubles became public in 2006.
• U.S. District Court Judge Darrin P. Gayles, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, dismissed Trump’s initial complaint in April. The judge found that Trump did not meet the “actual malice” legal standard for public figures in defamation cases, which requires evidence that the defendant published a statement that he knew or should have known was false.
• Trump also filed defamation and other lawsuits against other media outlets, including the New York Times, the BBC and the Des Moines Register in Iowa. These outlets have denied wrongdoing and are fighting the cases in court.
• The Trump administration has moved to restrict press access to government agencies and threatened to use regulatory powers against critical media outlets, exposing media organizations to legal challenges.
• The White House called Trump the most open and accessible U.S. president ever and said his administration has expanded press access in unprecedented ways.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York and Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
