Miami Federal Judge Dismisses Trump's Lawsuit Against the Wall Street Journal With Prejudice

A federal judge in Miami has dismissed President Donald Trump's multibillion-dollar lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over the newspaper's reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the Associated Press reported in its late-night news summary. U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled and the dismissal is permanent.

Gayles ruled that the president did not prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice, the legal standard a public official must meet in a defamation case. The ruling said the lawsuit was, in the judge's words, “grasping at straws” as it attempted to “manufacture” flaws in the Journal's investigative reporting, according to the AP account read by the desk this run.

The decision is a Florida-court chapter in a national fight over the president's dealings with the press: the case was heard in the Southern District of Florida in Miami, and it ends there unless an appeal follows — the AP summary reported no appeal announcement with the ruling. The dismissal was among the lead items in the AP's 11:35 p.m. Eastern summary, alongside the bureau's analysis of Iranian strikes on U.S. bases and the FBI's widening Alaska Senate inquiry.

For Jacksonville readers, the ruling lands three days before the November 3 midterm elections, in a state where the president's legal and political fights are a standing part of the campaign conversation. It does not change any Florida ballot or race; it closes one courtroom front, with prejudice, in Miami.