A judge has dismissed a case against the publisher of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) which was brought by Donald Trump, over a story about the US president’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump sued the WSJ and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, last year, asking for at least $US10b in damages.
The BBC reports that he claimed he was defamed in a July 17 story that said Trump was named in a “birthday book” given to Epstein in 2003. The WSJ reported that Trump included an offensive drawing of a woman’s body with his message, which was revealed in a Epstein files release.
Trump said the message was “a fake thing” and denied writing it.
In the dismissal, US District Judge Darrin Gayles said Trump came “nowhere close” to showing that the WSJ acted with actual malice – which is the standard to be met for defamation cases in the US.
The case was dismissed without prejudice, though Trump will be allowed to file a new, amended lawsuit. He has until 27 April to do so, and his lawyer told the BBC that he will.
Trump’s lawyer said the president will “continue to hold accountable those who traffic in Fake News to mislead the American People”.
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Trump’s WSJ defamation case dismissed
After the “birthday book” story was published, Democratic officials published an image of the message online.
The WSJ did not publish an image of the note nor the drawing, but detailed a written description – which has since matched the picture released by the Democrats.
The WSJ now has included the drawing in the above Instagram post.
Top image: The WSJ building, Trump. Image: the WSJ