A federal judge in Florida has thrown out President Trump’s $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post.

According to a brief order, the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the plaintiff, “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence that Defendant published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.”

The lawsuit, filed in 2023, was related to an article from the outlet titled, “Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump’s Truth Social.”

“Trump Media alleged the report was part of a ‘conspiracy’ to damage the company,” Mediaite reports.

Mediaite explained further:

Lawyers for The Post argued Trump Media could not satisfy that burden, telling the court its reporter, Drew Harwell, had “thoroughly investigated” the story and “had confidence in the article’s accuracy at the time of publication.”

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In a statement to CNN, the newspaper reacted: “We are pleased with the court’s decision and look forward to reviewing its written order upon release.”

While the case was pending, The Post published a correction in May, acknowledging that “discovery in the ongoing litigation has established” two assertions in the original article were incorrect. The correction added the statements were “based on The Post’s reporting at the time of publication.”

“A written order memorializing and explaining these rulings will follow in due course,” the brief order read.

The decision is the latest unfavorable ruling for Trump in a series of lawsuits against media outlets.

More from The Guardian:

In April, a different Florida judge dismissed an action against the Wall Street Journal over a story that said Trump wrote a “bawdy” letter to the disgraced late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; seven months earlier, a third Florida judge tossed a separate $15bn claim against the New York Times and book publisher Penguin, before the president filed an amended complaint a month later.

Also in April, TMTG dropped a defamation claim against the Guardian over a 2023 report that federal investigators were looking into its reported acceptance of loans from sources with ties to Russia.

The action against the Post stemmed from its 2023 report that TMTG was sourcing funds from “an obscure financial entity with connections to a Caribbean-island bank that bills itself as a top payment service for adult entertainment sites” as it built an operation that would turn into Trump’s Truth Social platform.

The Post alleged the companies did not disclose to shareholders or Securities Exchange Commission regulators that Trump Media paid a $240,000 “finder’s fee” for helping to arrange an $8m loan deal with ES Family Trust, or that the fee’s recipient was Entoro Securities, a brokerage firm linked to the chief executive of Digital World, a shell company that merged with TMTG in 2024.

Trump’s argument, rejected by Barber, was that the Post acted maliciously in reporting the story, an “egregious hit piece” according to the lawsuit, and that the newspaper had engaged in a “years-long crusade” against him.

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The judge found that the absence of malice meant that the lawsuit was destined to fail, and granted summary judgment sought by the Post in a motion it filed in April.

 

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