Trump Initiates Massive Lawsuit Against Wall Street Journal for Epstein Article

Former President Donald Trump has taken legal action against the Wall Street Journal and its media mogul Rupert Murdoch. This suit follows the Journal's piece discussing what it described as a 'lewd' celebratory note allegedly penned by Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.

Filed in Florida's Southern District, the lawsuit demands an astonishing $10 billion in relief. Trump claims the report is packed with defamatory inaccuracies and accuses the Journal of serious lapses in reporting standards.

The contested report described a missive from the 2000s purportedly bearing Trump's signature, including a birthday greeting alongside an illustration of a nude woman, supposedly compiled in a book for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has dismissed this account, labeling it 'FAKE' news.

While Trump has admitted to crossing paths with Epstein in earlier years, he has emphasized an eventual 'falling out' between them.

The lawsuit targets multiple parties: Dow Jones & Company, which owns the Journal, its parent News Corporation, Journal reporters Joseph Palazzolo and Khadeeja Safdar, as well as Murdoch himself and Dow Jones's CEO, Robert Thomson.

Via social media, Trump dubbed the lawsuit a 'POWERHOUSE Lawsuit' and hailed it as a significant legal milestone.

Winning defamation lawsuits in the U.S., especially for public figures like Trump, demands proving false statements were knowingly or negligently published.

Neither the White House nor Dow Jones have issued responses about the ongoing litigation.

Background on the Epstein Investigations

Amidst ongoing discussions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, charged with sex crimes until his 2019 jail cell death, Trump recently assigned Pam Bondi, the former Attorney General, to push for the disclosure of grand jury records related to Epstein. The Department of Justice has since moved to unseal those documents.

Epstein had previously faced federal inquiries in Florida, culminating in a plea deal that ended prosecution plans. More charges were leveled against him in New York regarding human trafficking before his death, later ruled a suicide.

A memorandum from the Justice Department and FBI dispelled rumors of Epstein maintaining a 'client list' for extortion and reaffirmed the suicide verdict, causing political controversies.