Judge rules for the Washington Post in $3.8B defamation suit brought by Trump Media
The lawsuit filed in 2023 by President Donald Trump’s social media company claimed the newspaper defamed it.
A federal judge on Thursday ruled in favor of the Washington Post, throwing out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed in 2023 by President Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber, who is based in Tampa, wrote in a summary docket entry — known as a minute order — that Trump Media “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that the Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.” Barber granted the Post’s motion for summary judgment and denied one from Trump Media.
The judge said in his ruling Thursday that a full opinion is forthcoming.
Public figures who sue for defamation in U.S. courts generally must demonstrate that the defendants acted with actual malice — disseminating information they know is false, or acting with reckless disregard for the truth — under the standard set by the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
In the complaint, lawyers for Trump’s social media company alleged a “yearslong crusade” by the Post that culminated in an “egregious hit piece.”
The article, published on May 13, 2023, focused on Trump Media’s effort to obtain financing ahead of a merger to take the company public. The deal, a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, called Digital World Acquisition, received sign-off from federal securities regulators in February 2024. One month later, in March, the company debuted under the ticker symbol DJT on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision and look forward to reviewing its written order upon release,” a Post spokesperson wrote in a statement.
After discovery concluded in the case, the Post published a correction to the original piece, appended with a hyperlink on May 22, 2026 — three years after it was published.
The correction noted that “[d]iscovery 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.”
Trump Media said the correction was a win and said it is considering appealing the court loss.
“After three years, The Washington Post finally admitted its harmful story was false,” a spokesperson for Trump Media wrote in a statement on Monday. “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.”