Two 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, one struck as an improper pleading and the other dismissed for failure to plead actual malice, both since refiled, testing the actual-malice standard at unprecedented scale.
LATEST DEVELOPMENT · AUG 27, 2026
On August 27, 2026, Trump filed a 62-page second amended complaint against The New York Times and Penguin Random House, as ordered by Judge Merryday on July 27, still seeking $15B. The Times’ renewed motion to dismiss will follow. In the Dow Jones case, Judge Gayles heard argument on August 5, 2026 on the Journal’s motion to dismiss the amended $10B complaint with prejudice, stayed all discovery pending his ruling, and has not yet decided the motion.
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
-
AUG 27, 2026FILINGTrump files second amended complaint against New York TimesFollowing Judge Merryday’s July 27 order, Trump filed a further amended, 62-page complaint against the New York Times and Penguin Random House, adding specific claims of inaccuracies while continuing to seek $15B in damages.
-
AUG 5, 2026HEARINGGayles hears oral argument on second WSJ motion to dismiss, stays discoveryJudge Darrin P. Gayles held a roughly 90-minute hearing in Miami on Dow Jones/WSJ’s renewed motion to dismiss Trump’s amended $10B complaint with prejudice. He did not rule from the bench but indicated a written ruling would follow soon, and he granted the defendants’ request to stay discovery pending that ruling.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.’
-
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.