Trump sues Wall Street Journal for damages over Jeffrey Epstein article

President Donald Trump on July 18 filed a defamation lawsuit against the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, parent company News Corp, and two reporters who wrote an article about a collection of letters given to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003.

At the heart of the case is a short letter allegedly bearing Mr Trump's name accompanied by an "indecent" graphic sketch.

In an 18-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami, Trump’s legal team accused the Journal of “serious failures of journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting.” It also said the newspaper failed to publish the drawing or letter it said was from Trump.

“The reason for those failures is that no authentic letter or drawing exists,” Mr. Trump’s lawyer wrote.

Harsh reactions and the war with the media "empire"

Previously, Mr. Trump threatened to sue almost immediately after the article by two reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo was published.

On the social network Truth Social, he stated: "The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch personally, have been directly warned by President Donald J. Trump that the letter allegedly sent by President Trump to Epstein is fake and, if they publish it, they will be sued." Mr. Trump added that media mogul Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp, "said he would handle it" but "clearly does not have the authority to do so."

President Trump’s relationship with billionaire Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, has been the focus of attention in recent weeks. The Trump administration recently released a Justice Department memo that said there was no evidence that Epstein maintained a “client list” linked to alleged sex crimes.

Precedents from media lawsuits

This is an extraordinary legal escalation, as legal experts say they have no record of a sitting president suing a news organization over a single article.

However, Mr. Trump has a history of suing media companies. In March 2024, he sued ABC, and its parent company, Disney, agreed to settle and pay $16 million for his future presidential library. Just two weeks ago, Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, agreed to pay $16 million to drop another lawsuit. Meta and X (Twitter) have also reached settlements with Mr. Trump in previous lawsuits.

University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said that Mr. Trump’s attacks on the media undermine the First Amendment by making the media and others more cautious when reporting on him and his administration.

Shortly after filing the lawsuit, Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social that he looked forward to Mr. Murdoch answering questions under oath.