Trump Loses $10B ‘Epstein Files’ Lawsuit

In a big legal and personal setback, US President Donald Trump has lost a $ 10 Billion ( 94,900 Crores) defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, a leading media outlet, after a Federal judge dismissed his petition with prejudice and ordered that it cannot be refiled in the court.

The case arises from a controversial news article published WSJ in July last year. The report featured details about an explicit letter and drawing allegedly linked to Trump inside a 2003 birthday album compiled for Jeffrey Epstein, an infamous financier who was convicted in child sex trafficking racket.

Trump strongly denied writing the report and called the publication completely false and defamatory, prompting his legal team to demand heavy financial damages from the media house and its founder, Rupert Murdoch.

The very next day the controversial report was published by WSJ, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the media house. After the court initially dismissed the suit in April this year, Trump’s legal team refiled an amended version of the lawsuit in May.

Pronouncing the judgement, the federal judge stated that Trump’s legal team failed to prove the allegation required under American media law for public figures with substantial evidence. The judge noted that the lawsuit could not establish that the outlet knowingly published fake information with malicious intent.

The court further pointed out that the newspaper acted fairly during its reporting process by reaching out to Trump and clearly including his official denial inside the published story.

This is another embarrassment for Trump and his team because media houses have already gained upper hand through legal routes despite his attempts to block their critical coverage.