President Donald Trump filed a new version of his $10 billion libel lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and its parent company News Corp. over an article about his alleged close ties to Jeffrey Epstein, after an earlier version of the suit was tossed out by a judge.
The revised suit was filed late Wednesday in federal court in Florida, meeting a deadline set by a judge who dismissed the original complaint for lacking sufficient claims that the story was filed with “actual malice” toward Trump, a high bar set for libel suits by public figures.
Trump sued over a July 2025 story that said he’d sent a “bawdy” birthday note to the disgraced financier in 2003, typed within a sketched outline of a naked woman and signed with the president’s signature in the pubic area. The note ends with: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has repeatedly claimed the note is fake.
“At the time of publication, defendants recklessly disregarded whether the defamatory statements were true and/or they purposefully avoided the discovery of the truth,” Trump’s lawyer Alejandro Brito wrote in the amended complaint.
US District Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed Trump’s first version of the complaint in April, ruling it “comes nowhere close” to meeting the legal standard for public figures to allege defamation. The actual malice standard means a public figure must show the publication knew the disputed statement was false or recklessly disregarded the possibility that it might be untrue.
Trump’s new lawsuit aims to beef up the allegations along those lines, alleging the reporters, the Wall Street Journal, publisher Dow Jones and News Corp. Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch all had published the story either knowing it was false or with disregard for the truth.
News Corp. did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The Wall Street Journal has repeatedly stood by its story and suggested Trump’s lawsuit is an attempt to silence criticism in the media.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said the new lawsuit was a “powerhouse.”
“The President will continue to hold those who mislead the American People with Fake News and smears accountable for their actions,” the spokesman said.
According to the revised suit, it was a “glaring omission” for the Wall Street Journal to fail to explain why the alleged birthday note by Trump had been written in the third person, why it was typed and by whom, and how the news outlet obtained it. The new suit also doubles down on Trump’s claim that the Wall Street Journal improperly failed to include an image of the alleged letter in the article or defend it until months later, arguing the omission was further evidence of actual malice.
In dismissing the suit, the judge said it appeared to be clear from the article that the Wall Street Journal had not been reckless with the truth, noting how the paper contacted Trump and other officials for comment before publication. Gayles didn’t rule on whether the story was defamatory and said it was too early to determine if Trump had actually written the birthday note.
Top Photo: US President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC on May 27. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg
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