US President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, and two Wall Street Journal journalists in the Southern District of Florida. The move follows a WSJ report claiming Trump had sent a birthday message in 2003 to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which allegedly included a nude female sketch and a sexually suggestive signature.
Trump has strongly denied writing the letter, dismissing it as fake and malicious. He argued that the article was intended to damage his reputation and caused immense financial and reputational loss.
Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was first accused of sexually abusing minors in 2006 and served a 13-month sentence. In 2019, he was re-arrested for trafficking underage girls and later died by suicide in jail. Despite Trump’s past social ties with Epstein, he has repeatedly distanced himself, especially after launching his political career.
Last week, a joint memo from the US Department of Justice and FBI noted a lack of sufficient evidence to support further investigation into Epstein’s files, triggering political backlash and calls for resignations from agency heads.