President Donald Trump has launched a $10 billion libel lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, Dow Jones & Co., and two Wall Street Journal reporters, accusing them of publishing a “false, malicious, defamatory” article linking him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump declared Friday on Truth Social.
Filed in the Southern District of Florida, the suit targets Murdoch, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, and WSJ reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo, according to NBC News. At issue is a Wall Street Journal report alleging Trump sent Epstein a “bawdy” birthday card in 2003 featuring a hand-drawn naked woman, supposedly marked with Trump’s signature and crude annotations.
The complaint flatly denies the authenticity of the letter, calling the depiction “false and salacious.” It accuses the Journal of inventing claims that Trump “authored, drew, and signed a card” to Epstein, alleging further that he inscribed the naked figure’s breasts and added his name “mimicking pubic hair.”
According to the suit, the story relied on “glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting,” claiming it was approved “at the direction of Defendants Murdoch and Thomson.”
Dow Jones, which publishes the WSJ, issued a brief statement: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Trump, who has long denied writing the letter and downplayed his association with Epstein, again signaled a combative stance. “I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” he posted.
The article in question cited documents allegedly reviewed by federal investigators probing Epstein’s criminal network. Epstein, a financier with powerful connections, died by suicide in jail in 2019 after his arrest on federal child sex trafficking charges.
The lawsuit lands at a time when Trump is under growing pressure to unseal Justice Department files related to Epstein’s operations — and amid a renewed public reckoning over the elite circles in which Epstein moved.
News Corp, founded by Murdoch, owns media properties across the globe, including Fox News and the New York Post. The Wall Street Journal, long seen as the flagship of its print division, has clashed with Trump in recent years despite its historically conservative editorial line.
While Trump and Epstein were once social acquaintances, Trump has publicly distanced himself from Epstein since at least 2007, telling reporters he had banned him from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has previously settled defamation cases from ABC News and CBS News for their false reporting, raking in millions. Murdoch was accused of firing Tucker Carlson at Fox News after being pressured by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to silence the loud critic of the war.
The case now heads to federal court, where Trump’s legal team is expected to demand document discovery and depositions from some of the most powerful figures in American media.
[Read More: Republican Accuses Fed Chair Of Fraud]
