President Donald Trump has refiled a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal after an earlier version of the case was dismissed by a federal judge.

The lawsuit centers on a report alleging that Trump once sent Jeffrey Epstein a crude birthday card featuring a sexualized message and an explicit doodle of a woman.Trump has denied that the card exists, although it was later released as part of materials connected to the Epstein investigation.The original lawsuit was thrown out by U.S.

District Judge Darrin Gayles, who found that Trump, as a public figure, failed to adequately allege that the newspaper acted with “actual malice,” a legal requirement under defamation law established by New York Times v.Sullivan.

The judge concluded that the complaint did not sufficiently demonstrate that the publication knowingly published false information or recklessly disregarded the truth.

In the revised filing, Trump’s legal team attempts to address this deficiency by arguing that the newspaper acted with reckless disregard for the truth in its reporting.

The updated complaint maintains that the Journal’s coverage damaged Trump’s reputation by linking him to Epstein through the alleged birthday card and its contents.The case is part of a broader pattern in which Trump has frequently pursued legal action against media organizations over unfavorable reporting.

The Epstein connection has remained a sensitive and politically charged topic, and the lawsuit reflects ongoing disputes over media coverage of Trump’s past associations.The court will now consider whether the revised claims meet the higher legal threshold required for defamation cases involving public figures.