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Trump lawsuit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday letter is dismissed with prejudice

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Cite

Collins, D. (2026, October 31). Trump lawsuit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday letter is dismissed with prejudice. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/united-states/trump-lawsuit-against-wall-street-journal-over-epstein-birthday-letter-is-dismissed-with-prejudice/article_7ec821c4-1a16-52f6-93c7-ec83f98d0923.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-10-31 · by Dave Collins

Quick Summary

Federal Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Saturday. Trump had sued over a story linking him to Epstein through a birthday letter, claiming defamation. The judge ruled that Trump failed to demonstrate the defendants acted with actual malice in publishing the article.
Written by AI on 2026-11-01, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 31, 2026, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed President Donald Trump's multibillion-dollar lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and related parties over a story about an alleged birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be refiled. The judge ruled that Trump had failed to prove defendants made statements with actual malice, calling his lawsuit "grasping at straws." Trump's suit, which sought $10 billion in damages, was dismissed due to insufficient evidence of defamation and an absence of proof regarding actual malice required for public figures under U.S. law.

Written for “Judge Dismisses Trump Suit Against WSJ Over Epstein Letters” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 15 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Judge Dismisses Trump Suit Against WSJ Over Epstein Letters
Politics · 16 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 60/100
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Hedges 0 of 1 claims Outlet record 63/100
CBS News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 14 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Hindu
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 3 of 22 claims Outlet record 77/100
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 3 claims Outlet record 70/100
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 3 of 22 claims Outlet record 61/100
BBC News
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 3 of 17 claims Outlet record 68/100
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 3 of 20 claims Outlet record 66/100
NBC News
Hedges 4 of 24 claims Outlet record 60/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
2
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 2 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
16
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-01 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 11011 article(s) · 28 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 28 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Dave Collins
13 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 The letter bearing Trump’s name included text framed by the outline of what appeared to be a hand-drawn naked woman and ended with, “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret”, according to the newspaper. Trump denied writing it and called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory”.
🔮 If any other storms form in the eastern North Pacific this year, they would be named Winnie, Xavier, Yolanda and Zeke.
🔮 Firefighters were called to the blaze in Clinton, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) northwest of Jackson, at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, and multiple wings of the center were on fire, Clinton Mayor Will Purdie said at a news conference. “It’s with a heavy heart that I share with you that two residents lost their lives in that fire,” Purdie said.
🔮 The Category 3 storm, which represents the first major hurricane of an unusually quiet Atlantic season, is predicted to hit land on Friday night.
🔮 Isaias was expected to strengthen into a major hurricane on Friday as it surged towards the Gulf Coast, where final preparations were being made for potentially life-threatening storm surges and high winds.
🔮 Forecasters warned that Isaias could deliver destructive hurricane-force winds to the Florida Panhandle, alongside southern Alabama and southern Mississippi.
🔮 Forecasters warned that Isaias could deliver destructive hurricane-force winds to the Florida Panhandle, alongside southern Alabama and southern Mississippi.
🔮 Forecasters warned Isaias could bring damaging hurricane-force winds to parts of the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, while also potentially causing a life-threatening storm surge along areas of the northern Gulf Coast.
🔮 Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced Monday that his office will present evidence to a grand jury regarding the alleged attack at the former Chi Phi fraternity house.
🔮 Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew van Houten said on Monday (US time) that his office would present evidence to a grand jury as he faced questions from the public about why there were no criminal prosecutions in the case.
Also by Dave Collins
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 13 articles by Dave Collins →

Topics

Miami The Wall Street Journal U.S.

Subjects

Darrin Gayles PERSON · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Jeffrey Epstein PERSON · 1× Miami ORG · 1× Rupert Murdoch PERSON · 1× The Wall Street Journal ORG · 1× U.S. GPE · 1×

Narrative

A federal judge on Saturday threw out President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-01

Claims (2 extracted, 0 hedged)

A federal judge on Saturday threw out President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein. asserted
judge → throw → Epstein
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed the suit with prejudice, ruling that the president did not prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice. asserted
defendants → dismiss → malice
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