2026年10月31日 美国东部时间下午4:59 / CBS新闻
特朗普总统因《华尔街日报》报道其与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的生日书籍存在关联而提起的数百万美元诽谤诉讼已被驳回。
美国地区法官达伦·盖尔斯于周六出具一份20页的裁决书，永久驳回了这起诉讼，裁定特朗普未能证明被告在发表言论时存在实际恶意。
他表示，这起诉讼“纯属无稽之谈”，企图“捏造”《华尔街日报》调查报道中的漏洞。
实际恶意要求原告证明，针对公众人物的言论是在明知虚假的情况下发表，或是无视其真实性与否而发表。
当案件被“永久驳回”时，不得再次提起诉讼，该驳回判决具有永久效力且不容置疑。
特朗普法律团队的一名发言人在一份声明中告诉CBS新闻：“特朗普总统将继续推进针对《华尔街日报》及所有其他被告的有力诉讼。总统将继续追究那些用假新闻和抹黑手段误导美国民众的人的责任。”
一名熟悉特朗普法律策略的消息人士表示，这一裁决可能会被上诉。
这起诉讼源于《华尔街日报》去年发表的一篇报道，该报道称发现了一封带有特朗普签名的带有性暗示的信件，被收录在为庆祝爱泼斯坦50岁生日而编纂的2003年纪念册中。
总统驳斥该报道为“假新闻”，并对该报、其母公司新闻集团、该公司首席执行官、撰写报道的记者以及新闻集团名誉董事长鲁珀特·默多克提起了200亿美元的诉讼。
众议院议员后来向爱泼斯坦的遗产发出传票并获得了经过编辑的生日纪念册版本，其中包含了特朗普诉讼核心争议的那封信。时任白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特表示：“很明显，特朗普总统没有画这幅画，也没有在上面签名。”
今年4月，盖尔斯驳回了这起诉讼，称特朗普的法律团队未能达到确立其诉求所需的法律标准。他裁定，总统“远未证明”该报对他存在“实际恶意”，而这是作为公众人物提起诽谤诉讼的标准要求。
特朗普的法律团队随后重新提起了诉讼。
斯特凡·贝克特对本报道有贡献
Trump lawsuit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday letter dismissed with prejudice
October 31, 2026 / 4:59 PM EDT / CBS News
A multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit by President Trump against The Wall Street Journal over a story reporting his ties to a birthday book for Jeffrey Epstein has been thrown out.
In a 20-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed the suit with prejudice on Saturday, ruling that Mr. Trump did not prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice.
He said the lawsuit was “grasping at straws” as it attempted to “manufacture” flaws in the WSJ’s investigative reporting.
Actual malice requires that plaintiffs prove that statements made about a public figure were published with the knowledge that they were false, or with disregard for whether they are true or not.
When a case is thrown out “with prejudice,” it cannot be refiled again, and the dismissal is permanent and incontrovertible.
“President Trump will continue to press forward in his powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other defendants,” a spokesperson for Mr. Trump’s legal team told CBS News in a statement. “The President will continue to hold those who mislead the American People with Fake News and smears accountable for their actions.”
A source familiar with Mr. Trump’s legal strategy said that the decision will likely be appealed.
The lawsuit was over a story the WSJ published last year describing a sexually suggestive letter that the paper said bore Mr. Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday.
The president dismissed the story as “FAKE” and filed a $20 billion lawsuitagainst the paper, its parent company News Corp, the company’s CEO, the reporters who wrote the story and Rupert Murdoch, News Corp’s chairman emeritus.
House lawmakers later subpoenaed and obtaineda redacted version of the birthday book from Epstein’s estate, which included the letterat the center of Mr. Trump’s lawsuit. Then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “It’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.”
In April, Gayles dismissed the lawsuit, saying the president’s legal team failed to clear the legal bar needed to establish their claim. He ruled that the president came “nowhere close” to showing the paper acted with “actual malice” toward him, the standard for bringing a defamation suit as a public figure.
Mr. Trump’s legal team refiled the lawsuit.
Stefan Becket contributed to this report.
发表回复