Donald Trump and various entities connected to him have spent his second term filing lawsuits against media outlets, some of which have resulted in significant settlements. However, the president was dealt a big legal defeat this week in one such suit, by his social media company against the Washington Post.
The Post reported Tuesday that a judge had thrown out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Trump’s Trump Media and Technology Group against the newspaper. The judge ruled that Trump’s company “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that the newspaper had “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.”
Another one of President Trump’s lawsuits against a news organization has fizzled out. This time, it is a defamation suit that the Trump Media and Technology Group brought against The Washington Post in 2023… https://t.co/bt1YEnjXrB
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 8, 2026
At issue was the Post’s 2023 reporting on financial machinations involving the social media company.
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“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,” the Post reported this week.
The judge found that the lawsuit failed to meet the “actual malice” standard that is necessary in such a lawsuit.
“Under the legal standard established by the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, public figures suing for defamation must show defendants acted with actual malice—knowingly publishing false information or proceeding with reckless disregard for the truth,” the Daily Beast reported about the suit. “The judge found Trump Media hadn’t cleared that bar.”
