A US judge has dismissed a case against the publisher of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) over a story about ties the US president had to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump sued the American newspaper and its owners including Rupert Murdoch in a Florida federal court last summer, asking for at least $10bn (£7.4bn) in damages.

The president claimed the newspaper defamed him in a 17 July report that said Trump’s name was in a “birthday book” given to Epstein in 2003. In that message, the Journal reported, Trump included a drawing of a woman’s body.

Trump’s lawyer told the BBC, that the president will refile the “powerhouse” suit.

US District Judge Darrin Gayles said Trump came “nowhere close” to showing the WSJ acted with actual malice towards him, which is the threshold for defamation cases in the US.

The case was dismissed without prejudice, though Trump will be allowed to file a new, amended lawsuit. He has until 27 April to do so.

Trump’s lawyer said the president will “continue to hold accountable those who traffic in Fake News to mislead the American People”.

The standard for "actual malice” in defamation cases is that the plaintiff must prove that a public statement was both false, and that the news organisation or individual who made the statement knew or should have known that it was false or acted in reckless disregard of its falsity.

In his ruling, Gayles said he had to dismiss the complaint because Trump had “not plausibly alleged that the Defendants published the Article with actual malice”.

The WSJ, owned by Murdoch’s company News Corp., published exclusive reporting over the summer tying Trump and Epstein together through the birthday book.

Weeks later, Democratic lawmakers published an image of the birthday note on social media, ahead of the release of other documents related to Epstein.

The newspaper did not publish an image of the note at the time but the details of its written description matched the picture that was released by lawmakers.

Trump said the message was “a fake thing” and denied writing it. (BBC)

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