Two record-breaking defamation suits by a sitting president, $15B against The New York Times and $10B against Dow Jones over The Wall Street Journal’s Epstein ‘birthday letter’ story, both thrown out at the pleadings and refiled, testing the actual-malice standard at unprecedented scale.
LATEST DEVELOPMENT · MAY 28, 2026
On July 27, 2026, Judge Merryday deferred ruling on The New York Times’ motion to dismiss and ordered Trump to file a further amended complaint by August 27, 2026. In the Dow Jones case, defendants moved on June 10, 2026 to dismiss Trump’s amended complaint with prejudice, and Judge Gayles has scheduled a hearing on that motion and a related discovery-stay motion for August 5, 2026.
BACKGROUND
In September 2025, President Trump sued The New York Times, four of its reporters and book publisher Penguin Random House for $15B in the Middle District of Florida, tying the claim to Times reporting and the book ‘Lucky Loser.’ Judge Steven D. Merryday struck the 85-page complaint on 19 September 2025 as an improper ‘public relations’ document that did not reach its first defamation count until page 80, and gave leave to refile. Trump filed a 40-page amended complaint on 16 October 2025. Separately, Trump sued Dow Jones, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch for $10B in the Southern District of Florida over a July 2025 Wall Street Journal story describing a bawdy 2003 birthday letter bearing his signature, which he denies writing.
Judge Darrin P. Gayles dismissed the Dow Jones suit on 13 April 2026 for failure to plausibly plead actual malice, later denied Trump pre-complaint discovery into malice (May 2026), and Trump filed an amended complaint in late May 2026. As of mid-2026, both cases sit at the motion-to-dismiss stage, with the sufficiency of the actual-malice allegations the central question in each.
TIMELINE
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AUG 5, 2026HEARINGHearing set on Dow Jones motion to dismiss amended complaintJudge Gayles scheduled a hearing for August 5, 2026 on Dow Jones’ motion to dismiss the first amended complaint and its motion to stay discovery pending that ruling.
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JUL 27, 2026PROCEDURALJudge Merryday defers ruling on NYT motion to dismiss, orders further amended complaintJudge Steven D. Merryday declined to immediately rule on the New York Times’ motion to dismiss Trump’s $15B defamation suit and instead ordered Trump to file another amended complaint by August 27, 2026.
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JUN 10, 2026FILINGDow Jones moves to dismiss Trump’s amended WSJ complaint with prejudiceThe Wall Street Journal’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss Trump’s amended complaint with prejudice, arguing it fails to meet the actual-malice pleading standard and renewing a request for attorney fees under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute.
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MAY 28, 2026FILINGTrump denied malice discovery, then refiles amended $10B WSJ complaintAfter the court refused pre-complaint discovery into actual malice, Trump filed an amended complaint against Dow Jones.
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APR 13, 2026JUDGMENTJudge Gayles dismisses the Dow Jones suit for lack of actual maliceThe court found the complaint came ‘nowhere close’ to pleading actual malice, dismissing it with leave to amend.
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OCT 16, 2025FILINGTrump refiles a 40-page amended NYT complaintThe amended complaint dropped the extensive political narrative and stayed within the court’s page limit.
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SEP 19, 2025JUDGMENTJudge Merryday strikes the NYT complaint as improperThe court called the 85-page filing an improper public-relations document and gave Trump leave to refile a 40-page complaint.
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SEP 15, 2025FILINGTrump sues The New York Times ($15B)The complaint named the Times, four reporters and Penguin Random House, publisher of the book ‘Lucky Loser.’
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JUL 18, 2025FILINGTrump sues Dow Jones ($10B) over WSJ Epstein-letter storyTrump sued Dow Jones, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch over a Wall Street Journal report describing a 2003 birthday letter bearing his signature.