When Donald Trump was preparing to re-enter the White House, one of the significant missteps by corporate and mainstream media was agreeing to settle a number of questionable defamation lawsuits initiated by Trump against networks like CBS and ABC.
Trump quickly realized he could exploit large corporations for financial settlements and undermine the media’s integrity by making them appear culpable when they chose to settle.
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Trump has persisted in attempting to discredit unfavorable reports about him while profiting from defamation lawsuits.
Angered by The Wall Street Journal’s article regarding Trump’s birthday card to Epstein, he filed a defamation suit.
Judge Darrin Gayles commented in his decision:
The Complaint claims that President Trump informed the Defendants the Letter was fake before they published the article. Trump argues this indicates the Defendants harbored serious doubts about their reporting’s truthfulness, thus acting with actual malice. The Court disagrees. To prove actual malice, “a plaintiff must show the defendant deliberately avoided verifying the statement’s truth to evade learning it.” Reed, 2025 WL 1874638, at *3. The Complaint falls far from reaching this threshold. Quite the contrary.
The article clarifies that before publishing, Defendants sought comments from President Trump, Justice Department officials, and the FBI. Trump denied the claims, the Justice Department provided no response, and the FBI declined to comment. Essentially, both the Complaint and the article demonstrate that Defendants attempted to verify the information. The article also confirms that the WSJ reviewed the Letter. [ECF No. 35-2].
