President Donald Trump has filed a revised $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its parent company News Corp., escalating his legal battle over a report concerning his alleged ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after an earlier version of the case was dismissed by a federal judge.
The amended complaint was submitted late Wednesday in federal court in Florida, meeting a deadline imposed after US District Judge Darrin Gayles rejected Trump’s initial lawsuit in April. The judge ruled that the original filing failed to meet the stringent legal standard required for public figures, which demands evidence that allegedly defamatory material was published with “actual malice.”
The lawsuit centers on a July 2025 Wall Street Journal article that alleged Trump sent Epstein a “bawdy” birthday note in 2003. According to the report, the note was reportedly typed within a sketch of a naked woman and signed by Trump in the area of the drawing corresponding to the pubic region. The message allegedly concluded with the line: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has repeatedly denied the authenticity of the note and has described it as fabricated.
In the revised filing, Trump’s legal team argues that the publication acted with reckless disregard for the truth. “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 stated in the amended complaint.
Judge Gayles had previously ruled that Trump’s original complaint “comes nowhere close” to meeting the legal threshold for defamation claims involving public figures. Under US law, such plaintiffs must demonstrate that the defendant either knew the information was false or acted with reckless disregard for its accuracy.
The new lawsuit seeks to reinforce those arguments, naming the reporters involved in the story as well as Dow Jones, News Corp., and Rupert Murdoch, chairman emeritus of News Corp. The filing also claims the Journal failed to address key questions, including why the alleged note was written in the third person, how it was obtained, and the circumstances surrounding its creation.
According to the amended complaint, these omissions amount to a “glaring failure” in journalistic scrutiny and reinforce claims of “actual malice.”
News Corp. has not yet responded to requests for comment on the latest filing.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team described the revised case as a “powerhouse,” adding that the former president intends to continue pursuing media organizations over what he describes as false reporting.
“The President will continue to hold those who mislead the American People with Fake News and smears accountable for their actions,” the spokesperson said.
The case is expected to proceed in federal court as Trump attempts to overcome the high legal bar required for defamation claims involving public officials, a standard repeatedly upheld by US courts in similar cases.
