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BumRushDaShow

(172,716 posts)
Thu May 28, 2026, 08:34 AM Thursday

Trump Refiles $10 Billion Defamation Suit Against WSJ Over Report on Epstein Ties

Source: US News & World Report/Reuters

May 28, 2026, at 1:49 a.m.




NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday refiled ⁠a ⁠defamation lawsuit seeking at least $10 billion in ⁠damages against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his ties to Jeffrey ​Epstein, after a judge threw out an earlier version over legal deficiencies. The lawsuit is one of several Trump has brought in his ‌personal capacity against news organizations, part ‌of what critics say is a wider pressure campaign against the media.

• Trump's lawsuit said the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tarnished ⁠his reputation with ⁠an article describing a birthday card to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as ​bearing Trump’s signature. Trump and his lawyers said the card is fake, even after it was released by lawmakers investigating Epstein’s case.

• Trump is seeking at least $10 billion in damages, according to the amended lawsuit. He had sought the same amount previously.

• "At the time of ​publication, Defendants recklessly disregarded whether the Defamatory Statements were true and/or they purposefully avoided the discovery of the ⁠truth," ⁠lawyers for Trump wrote in the ⁠amended complaint.

• The ​lawsuit filed in Miami federal court names Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its CEO Robert Thomson, ​along with two Wall Street Journal ⁠reporters, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo, as defendants, saying they defamed Trump and caused him to suffer "overwhelming" financial and reputational harm.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2026-05-28/trump-refiles-10-billion-defamation-suit-against-wsj-over-report-on-epstein-ties



REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143664741 (has earlier references)
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Trump Refiles $10 Billion Defamation Suit Against WSJ Over Report on Epstein Ties (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Thursday OP
I am sick of the gaslighting UpInArms Thursday #1
Its not slander/libel if its true.... Bayard Thursday #7
"Trump's lawsuit said the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tarnished ⁠his reputation" Ray Bruns Thursday #2
So yeah... purr-rat beauty Thursday #3
Double jeopardy Miguelito Loveless Thursday #5
This lawsuit will also be dismissed LetMyPeopleVote Thursday #4
The original dismissal melm00se Thursday #6
MaddowBlog-Trump sues The Wall Street Journal (again) over reporting on Epstein ties LetMyPeopleVote Friday #8

UpInArms

(55,456 posts)
1. I am sick of the gaslighting
Thu May 28, 2026, 08:49 AM
Thursday

What utter bullshit … this POS has an army of trolls suing every thing …

Vexatious litigation

Vexatious litigation is legal action which is brought solely to harass or subdue an adversary. It may take the form of a primary frivolous lawsuit or may be the repetitive, burdensome, and unwarranted filing of meritless motions in a matter which is otherwise a meritorious cause of action. Filing vexatious litigation is considered an abuse of the judicial process and may result in sanctions against the offender.

A single action, even a frivolous one, is usually not enough to raise a litigant to the level of being declared vexatious. Rather, a pattern of frivolous legal actions is typically required to rise to the level of vexatious. Repeated and severe instances by a single lawyer or firm can result in eventual disbarment.

Some jurisdictions have a list of vexatious litigants: people who have repeatedly abused the legal system. Because lawyers could be disbarred for participating in this abuse of the legal process, vexatious litigants are often unable to retain legal counsel, and such litigants, therefore, represent themselves in court. Those on the vexatious litigant list are usually either forbidden to take any further legal action or are required to obtain prior permission from a senior judge before taking any legal action. The process by which a person is added to the list varies among jurisdictions. In liberal democratic jurisdictions, declaring someone a vexatious litigant is considered to be a serious measure and rarely occurs, as judges and officials are reluctant to curtail a person's access to the courts.

These legal actions occur[dubious – discuss] in some countries of the former British Empire, where the common law system still remains: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, and US, which are specified below. Civil (codified/continental) law systems typically do not have a prohibition against vexatious litigation.

… snip …

The first such law outside the British Isles, the Supreme Court Act, 1927 was passed in Australia nearly thirty years later. This too was prompted by the behaviour of an individual, Rupert Millane.[4] The first vexatious litigant law in the United States was enacted in California in 1963. By 2007 four more US states had passed similar legislation: Florida, Hawaii, Ohio, and Texas.[2]

Ray Bruns

(6,808 posts)
2. "Trump's lawsuit said the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tarnished ⁠his reputation"
Thu May 28, 2026, 10:08 AM
Thursday

“How does one tarnish a rusted blade?”

Worf, son of Mogh.

purr-rat beauty

(1,502 posts)
3. So yeah...
Thu May 28, 2026, 10:14 AM
Thursday

....firstly this seems highly Unconstitutional

What about double jeopardy? Is that a thing?

Is discovery a thing?

Miguelito Loveless

(5,949 posts)
5. Double jeopardy
Thu May 28, 2026, 10:56 AM
Thursday

only applies to criminal cases, not civil. As the case was not dismissed "with prejudice", he is free to refile.

melm00se

(5,177 posts)
6. The original dismissal
Thu May 28, 2026, 10:58 AM
Thursday

allowed for a refiling of the case and they have done that.

Their obligation in refiling the case is that they assert and can back up the claim that the WSJ acted with "actual malice."

Having read the refiling, Trump's team is claiming that their assertion that the document is false and Maxwell's assertion that she did not recall Trump submitting a letter as they are the only remaining witnesses still alive at the time of the publication is sufficient to show that the WSJ acted with "actual malice."

That may meet the requirement that the court established to refile the case.

I do not think that their assertions/claims will be sufficient to overcome the fact that birthday book did include said letter and that letter has a signature that appears to be consistent with Trump's signature.


LetMyPeopleVote

(182,705 posts)
8. MaddowBlog-Trump sues The Wall Street Journal (again) over reporting on Epstein ties
Fri May 29, 2026, 08:53 PM
Friday

The president’s first lawsuit against the newspaper was an embarrassing flop. The sequel is likely to meet the same fate.

www.ms.now/rachel-maddo... "Trump sues The Wall Street Journal (again) over reporting on Epstein ties"
I mean, sooner or later, WSJ should take a page from Trump and sue Trump's companies for billions. They will have no choice but to either settle (which they won't) or faceplant by decision.

Martin Napier (@mnapier76.bsky.social) 2026-05-28T14:28:43.453Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-sues-wall-street-journal-again-epstein-defamation

The president not only denied having written the message, he also responded with unsubtle threats. “President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly,” he wrote online, referring to himself in the third person for reasons unknown.

The Republican added soon after, “The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. … I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”

In mid-July, the president did, in fact, file the defamation suit, seeking a jury trial and a judgment of at least $10 billion. Last month, the case flopped when a federal judge dismissed it.

This month, he’s trying again. The Wall Street Journal reported:

President Trump on Wednesday filed a revised lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, after a judge dismissed an earlier complaint that alleged he was defamed by an article about a birthday letter to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. […]

The new complaint alleges that the defendants acted with such malice in several aspects, citing Trump’s repeated denial of any involvement with the letter. Like the previous version, it is seeking billions of dollars in damages.


Time will tell what becomes of the litigation, though recent history suggests that the plaintiff should keep his expectations low. Indeed, recent history is highly relevant.


The Trump campaign’s 2020 case against CNN failed. Trump’s 2021 case against The New York Times failed. Trump’s 2023 case against journalist Bob Woodward failed. The Trump campaign’s case against The Washington Post failed. Trump’s so-called class-action lawsuit against social media giants also failed. (Last year, Trump filed a $15 billion civil suit against The New York Times, which was thrown out four days later, not because it lacked merit, but because a federal judge found that the president’s lawyers’ court filing was simply too ridiculous.)

Americans have never before had a president who sued independent news organizations, individual journalists or both for publishing reports the White House disapproved of, but we have also never before had a president lose so many civil cases while in office.

The lawyers who filed this lawsuit need to worry about sanctions and/or disbarment. Habba got sanctioned $1 million a while back when trump tried to sue Hillary Clinton and others.
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