WASHINGTON — A Miami federal judge dismissed President Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal Monday over a bombshell story about a lewd letter he purportedly sent to late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday.

US District Judge Darrin Gayles concluded that Trump’s legal team had “not plausibly alleged that the Defendants published the Article with actual malice,” but allowed the president the chance to file an amended lawsuit.

“President Trump will follow Judge Gayles’s ruling and guidance to refile this powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other Defendants,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told The Post. “The President will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in Fake News to mislead the American People.”

Historically, defamation cases against media outlets are difficult for public figures to win due to court precedent requiring them to prove malicious intent in publishing an incorrect story. The judge noted that the Journal had reached out to Trump, 79, and his administration for comment prior to publication.

The Wall Street Journal only described the letter in its report. But House Democrats publicly released the bawdy document depicting a hand-drawn naked woman this past fall. The House Oversight Committee had gotten the letter from a birthday book found in the Epstein estate.“Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret,” read part of the letter, which bore Trump’s signature.

The president’s suit, filed in July 2025, claimed that “no authentic letter or drawing exists” in which Trump used “salacious language.” 

“We are pleased with the judge’s decision to dismiss this complaint. We stand behind the reliability, rigor and accuracy of The Wall Street Journal’s reporting,” a spokesperson for the outlet’s publisher, Dow Jones, told The Post.

Weeks before the Journal report was published, a MAGA revolt began brewing after the FBI and Justice Department penned a memo claiming that the feds had concluded there was no evidence that Epstein had a “client list” and that his death was most likely the result of suicide in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019. 

Ultimately, the bipartisan firestorm that ensued culminated in Congress passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act this past November, forcing the DOJ to release over 3 million pages worth of documents on the late sex predator. 

Trump had named both Dow Jones and the Journal’s parent company, News Corp, in the suit. News Corp is also the parent company of The Post. The lawsuit also named News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson, Chair Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, and two reporters. 

“President Trump’s conclusory allegation that Defendants had contradictory evidence and failed to investigate is rebutted by the Article and is insufficient to establish actual malice,” wrote Gayles, an Obama appointee. “President Trump’s allegation that Defendants acted with ill-will is insufficient to plead actual malice.”

The judge declined to make a factual determination as to whether the material in the article was accurate and refrained from awarding attorney fees and costs due to the possibility of Trump amending the suit. 

Trump had been photographed with Epstein decades ago, but claims to have had a bitter falling out with him in the mid-2000s, eventually booting the late financer from Mar-a-Lago and claiming he “stole people that worked for me.” The president has said that he severed ties with Epstein prior to his initial 2006 arrest on Florida state child prostitution charges.

Last week, first lady Melania Trump issued a stunning public statement at the White House rebuking dubious claims about her history with the late sex predator, declaring, “I am not Epstein’s victim.” 

The 47th president has sued multiple outlets since the 2024 election cycle, reaching $16 million settlements with both ABC News and CBS News over complaints about their coverage. 

In September, a judge rejected Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times, in which the president cried foul over its coverage of the 2024 election.

The president is also suing the BBC for an eye-bulging $10 billion over that outlet’s deceptive editing of his speech at the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, prior to the ransacking of the Capitol. The outlet is similarly attempting to get that suit tossed.