Trump Appeals Judge’s Dismissal of $10 Billion Wall Street Journal Defamation Suit

Donald Trump filed a notice of appeal to a judge’s dismissal of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal over the publication of an alleged birthday card the president is said to have sent to Jeffrey Epstein.In the document, which was filed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the president’s legal team wrote, “Notice is hereby given that Plaintiff President Donald J. Trump, by and through his undersigned counsel, appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from the Court’s October 31, 2026 Order, which granted Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss and dismissed the First Amended Complaint, with prejudice, and from all prior orders and rulings that merge into that final disposition.” “This appeal is taken pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and Rules 3 and 4 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure,” the filing continued. “The order appealed from is a final decision disposing of all claims to all parties.” Representatives for the Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. Trump previously denied having sent the birthday card to the disgraced financier. He previously accused the outlet of making up the birthday message, claiming no note was ever written. The legal move came days after Judge Darrin P. Gayles dismissed the defamation lawsuit with prejudice. As we reported on Saturday, Gayles granted the paper’s motion to dismiss Trump’s first amended complaint for failing to prove that any potentially defamatory comments were made with actual malice. The U.S. District Judge out of Miami noted in his ruling that Trump’s team was “grasping at straws” while trying to “manufacture” flaws in the initial WSJ report. Nonetheless, Trump’s decision to appeal the ruling is not necessarily surprising, given his legal team indicated the fight was not over in a statement to media this weekend. “President Trump will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told the New York Times. “The president will continue to hold those who mislead the American People with Fake News and smears accountable for their actions.” The Journal published the alleged birthday note in full back in September 2025. The message, which appeared to include Trump’s signature, also featured the quotes “We have certain things in common” and “May every day be a new wonderful secret” within the crude drawing of a naked woman. However, Trump denied writing the birthday note in the original WSJ story, telling the outlet: “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.” He added, “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” “I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ,” Trump wrote on Truth Social when the story first broke last year. “That will be an interesting experience!!!”