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Judge dismisses Trump Media’s $3.8 billion defamation suit against The Washington Post

Published July 8, 2026 at 1:16 PM UTC

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A federal judge in Florida has dismissed a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Trump Media and Technology Group against The Washington Post. The case originated from a 2023 article titled "Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump's Truth Social." U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber ruled that Trump Media failed to present sufficient evidence that The Post acted with actual malice in publishing the allegedly defamatory statements. The Post's lawyers argued that Trump Media could not prove "actual malice," a high legal standard public figures must meet to win a defamation case. This means the defendant either knew a claim was false or showed "reckless disregard of whether it was false or not." In response to the ruling, a spokesperson for Trump Media stated, "We believe a jury should decide whether these falsehoods were actionable and will evaluate whether to appeal last week’s ruling in due course. We will also continue to hold the media accountable." The Post's lawyers successfully argued that their reporter, Drew Harwell, conducted an exhaustive investigation into the complex financial arrangements and had confidence in the article’s accuracy at the time of publication. Following the ruling, The Post published a correction to the original piece, noting that "discovery in the ongoing litigation has established that Trump Media didn’t pay a loan referral fee of $240,000, as was stated in the article and was based on The Post’s reporting at the time of publication." The correction emphasized that the assertions were based on The Post’s reporting at the time of publication. A comprehensive opinion detailing the judge's rationale is expected to be issued shortly.