A federal judge in Miami on Oct. 31 dismissed with prejudice President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch and two journalists over a July 2025 report about an alleged 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Trump had failed, both in his original and amended complaints, to plausibly show the defendants acted with actual malice, the heightened standard public figures must meet in defamation cases. The report described a bawdy letter and drawing allegedly sent by Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday; Trump denied the letter was authentic and said it had been fabricated. Gayles had dismissed the initial complaint in April while allowing an amendment, but the latest ruling bars Trump from filing another version. The court also considered the Journal’s efforts to obtain Trump’s response before publication and its inclusion of his denials. The dispute unfolded amid renewed political pressure over Epstein-related records. The House Oversight Committee published a copy of the alleged note in 2025, while Trump’s name appeared repeatedly in released documents; he denies wrongdoing and has not been charged with crimes connected to the affair. Trump had resisted releasing the so-called Epstein Files before signing legislation requiring their publication. Democrats reportedly spent more than $35 million on Epstein-related advertising before the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections. In a separate Oct. 31 case, a new lawsuit sought to block Trump’s proposed triumphal arch near the military cemetery outside Washington.