President Donald Trump - Photo by Leon Neal / Getty Images
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 president’s lawsuit said the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tarnished his reputation with an article describing a birthday card to the 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.
Dow Jones has said it has full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of the Journal’s reporting and will vigorously defend the lawsuit. Trump has stated he parted ways with Epstein before the financier’s legal troubles became public in 2006.
According to a 2019 FBI report, Trump called Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter in 2005 to express support for the investigation into Epstein and has repeatedly stated that he barred Epstein in the early 2000s due to inappropriate behavior against female employees, particularly spa staff such as Virginia Giuffre.
Trump has also filed defamation and other lawsuits against other media organizations, including the New York Times, the BBC and Iowa’s Des Moines Register. Those outlets have denied wrongdoing and are fighting the cases in court.
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