Court Eviscerates Trump's Epstein Lawsuit as Truth is Exposed!
13m 57s
Donald Trump has suffered a decisive legal defeat in his long-running defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, with a federal judge permanently dismissing it due to lack of merit and failure to meet the "actual malice" standard. The ruling, which denies Trump the right to refile, marks a major setback in his legal efforts. His lawsuit against the BBC is now under threat, with a judge demanding critical documents and a deposition. Across multiple states, Republican-led governments are rejecting Trump’s legal challenges, signaling growing political panic as election day approaches. In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro asserts that elections are secure and emphasizes voter confidence, having previously defended against Trump’s 2020 legal attacks. He outlines a comprehensive policy vision for a Democratic trifecta, including a $15 minimum wage, abortion rights protections, and major investments in affordable housing and clean energy. Shapiro highlights voter frustration with Trump’s policies on inflation, war, and corruption, and stresses the importance of democratic accountability. As the election nears, he urges citizens to focus on voting and shaping a more equitable future. The broader narrative underscores a shift in public sentiment, with voters demanding transparency, economic relief, and institutional integrity—particularly in the face of Trump's legal and political overreach.
Donald Trump just lost his lawsuit over the Epstein birthday letter, and he lost it for good.
Today, a federal judge permanently threw out Donald Trump's multi-billion dollar lawsuit
against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch. The judge didn't just dismiss it,
he dismissed it with prejudice, which means Trump can never refile it. He wrote that Trump's case
was grasping at straws, and he said that Trump's claims lack merit, and it's not the only loss.
Trump's lawsuit against the BBC is now at risk of collapsing. His last election lawsuit is being
shredded by a Republican state government. His Justice Department is appealing a court order
that blocks from threatening election workers, and three days before the election, Republicans
from Texas to South Carolina to Kansas are in a full-blown panic. You know who isn't? Josh Shapiro
in Pennsylvania, where polls have him now up potentially 20 points in one of the swingiest
states in the country. I spoke with Governor Shapiro today. If you can, make sure to subscribe
to support this work. We are working around the clock between today and Election Day to get out
the world.
To vote, to get out the noise, to make sure that people are educated about what's happening right
now in this world. So subscribe, like, comment, share. And after Election Day, we're going to be
providing congressional Democrats with a roadmap for investigations from everything from Russia to
Epstein to more. We're going to do it together. Let's start with the Epstein letter, though,
because it's a huge one. Here's how it started. In 2005, this letter was written. It was written,
or 2003, it was written by Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.
For his 50th birthday. In July 2025, the Wall Street Journal was preparing a story with this
letter and proceeded to publish it. Here's something remarkable about today's court order.
Before the story ran, Trump personally called Rupert Murdoch and told him he hadn't signed or
sent the letter. Murdoch said he would, quote, handle it. Trump thought that the story was dead.
Two days later, the journal published it. Trump called it a fake thing, sued for billions of
dollars. The House Oversight Committee later subpoenaed it. Epstein's estate releasing the birthday book, it included this letter. Today, U.S. District Judge
Darren Gales in the Southern District of Florida, someone who I practiced in front of a really good
judge, by the way, ended the case for good. See, to win a defamation case as a public figure,
Trump had to show something called actual malice, meaning that the Wall Street Journal knew the
story was false or recklessly ignored the truth. The judge ruled Trump didn't come close. This was
his second try. The judge already tossed his first complaint, denied his request for discovery. Gales
wrote that the amended complaint was grasping at straws as it tried to manufacture flaws in the
journal's reporting. He said the court agrees that the defamation claim lacks merit. And not just
that, he gave the journal 30 days to ask Trump to pay their legal fees. So after all of this, Trump
may be paying the Wall Street Journal's lawyers. And it's not just a journal. Trump's $10 billion
lawsuit against the BBC could be thrown out, too. U.S. Magistrate Judge Unloki Lett warned Trump that
the case could be dismissed unless he hands over critical discovery documents by Nov. 23. The judge
also ordered Trump to sit for a deposition under oath by Dec. 11. In Alaska, Alaska's own Republican-led
government is tearing into a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump to try to prevent them from eventually
seating a future Senator Mary Peltola, calling it, quote, meritless, calling the Department of
Justice's plan to segregate ballots disturbing and impossible and a half-baked idea.
And with three days to go, the Republican Party has a panic that is impossible to hide. Start with
Texas, where Trump's hand-picked Senate candidate Ken Paxton has canceled three stops on his final
bus tour, including in El Paso. Why? Because this is what happens when he goes out of the House.
Talk to your friends, talk to your family. Tell them the difference between the parties and the
difference between me and James Tallarico. Paxton, you take bribes. If everybody in this room does
that. That's the difference between him and James Tallarico. And Ted Cruz even said he's deeply,
deeply worried. In South Carolina, polling has Darlene Graham tied with Annie Andrews.
That doesn't really happen because South Carolina hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998.
In Kansas, a state Trump won by 16 points, a state that hasn't had a Democratic senator in 90 years.
Senator Marshall is now in a statistically dead heat with Democrat Adam Hamilton. And in Miami,
Congressman Maria Elvira Salazar.
Who once won more votes than Trump in her own district is fighting for her political life.
So here's where we are. The Epstein lawsuit letter, done. Dead for good. BBC suit on the
ropes. Alaska lawsuit shredded by Republicans. As DOJ is losing in court, his party's panicking.
We're going live on election night from 3 from 6 p.m. to midnight Eastern time. Make sure to
subscribe to be aware. And right after election, they were dropping those major investigations.
Now my conversation with Governor Shapiro. Excited to be back again with Governor Josh Shapiro from
Pennsylvania.
Governor, how are you feeling? We are three days away from election day.
I'm feeling great. You can't see it, but just behind us here, we got a big old bus.
We've, you know, we're covering 10 days across Pennsylvania, hitting nearly every county. You
know, by the way, counties that overwhelmingly voted Democrat and counties that overwhelmingly
voted Republican. And we're showing up and we're seeing folks with a lot of the same things on
their mind. They're angry about higher costs. They're angry about endless wars. They're angry
about the corruption that they're seeing in D.C.
And I got to tell you, there's just a lot of enthusiasm up and down the ballot here in
Pennsylvania. And what's a really, really tough state to win it.
Now, I don't know if you saw, but President Trump had a tele rally for Pennsylvania candidates today.
He called you, quote, highly overrated, telling Pennsylvania voters to pretend
that he's on the ballot. What's your response?
Oh, first off, I'm happy he wants to be on the ballot because what I'm hearing from people is
that they're tired of Donald Trump's chaos, cruelty and corruption. I'm hearing that from
Democrats, Republicans and independents. So I'm thrilled that he says that we should vote like
he's on the ballot. I think what you also have here in Pennsylvania with my opponent, with a
bunch of these members of Congress who are running is you got rubber stamps for Donald Trump. And I
think people are just sick and tired of rubber stamps. They want people to stand up. And I guess
the last thing I'd say is, I mean, it's somewhat telling that he decided to phone it in and not
actually show up. I think Trump would have a hard time filling an arena, filling a ballroom,
right now, as he loves to talk about ballrooms. And I think it just frankly speaks to how toxic
he is right now. So no surprise he'd phone it in to, you know, a few of his supporters.
I do got to ask you, because Pennsylvania is a state that he won just two years back.
It's a swing state traditionally. But if you look at your numbers and the coalition you've built,
I mean, it's not really a swing state anymore. How'd you do that?
I mean, look, it is the swingiest swing state in the entire country. And you're correct to point
out he won two of the last three presidential elections. He won two of the last three presidential
races here. Now, I've won all three. But I would just tell you that all three times I've been on
the statewide ballot. I think what you're seeing is folks in all parties who are just so frustrated
by the way in which he's jacked up prices, by the way in which he's taken us into
a war in Iran that we have no earthly idea, he has no earthly idea how to get out of.
And I think what you're seeing is just exhaustion from him. I think it's still a swing state,
it's still a tough, tough, tough state to win. We're competing hard in every one of these
districts that he won to elect Democratic members of Congress. I'm feeling hopeful and optimistic,
but I'm also taking nothing for granted. We've got three days to go, and I'm running hard.
Let's say your campaign pushes all these other Democrats over the ballot, like Bob Brooks
running in Pennsylvania, and Democrats win the House, Democrats win the Senate. If you were
advising leadership in both to go either the investigations route and potentially an impeachment
of the president, or to go to the Senate, what would you say?
Look, I would just say that they've got to do what we do here in Pennsylvania, and you've got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, right? They've got to listen to what the people have been calling for, at least here in our Commonwealth. They're calling for accountability, and they're calling for lower costs and progress on tangible things. So I would hope they would go to Congress and try and roll back these Medicaid cuts so that people have access to health care.
I would hope that they'd pass some concrete policies to reduce the cost of housing,
of child care, increase wages, and I would hope that there'd be real accountability
for people who have broken the law in the administration. I think they can do all of those
things. What does another four years of Governor Shapiro look like in Pennsylvania?
Well, look, I'm working really hard right now, not just to get myself
re-elected, but also do something we haven't been able to do since 1992 here,
and that is to win our state legislature. Now, our legislative districts, I won't get in all the
details with you, but they're super gerrymandered, and this is really tough, but I'm putting
everything I got into it. And so if I could win a trifecta in Harrisburg, Act 1 of 2027 will be to
raise our minimum wage to $15 an hour. Republicans have blocked that for nearly 20 years. I also want
to put in our Constitution, I'm going to codify in our Constitution, abortion rights for women here
in Pennsylvania, particularly after Roe. There are no federal protections. We've got to make
sure that here in the birthplace of freedom, we have real reproductive freedom. I want to pass
a $5 billion critical infrastructure and housing fund to be able to build more housing, particularly
affordable housing and housing for our seniors, repair our aging housing stock, make sure that
we've got the energy infrastructure we need, especially around clean energy. I want to fully
fund mass transit while continuing to invest in Roe v. Wade. I want to fully fund mass transit
and road and bridge repair and a whole lot more. So those are the things that I'm hopeful will be
with a Democratic trifecta next term.
You mentioned affordability
at the beginning of this conversation.
There's a real possibility that on November 4th,
on Wednesday, we begin strikes in Iran again,
potentially driving up costs even more.
You're the governor of Pennsylvania.
You can't stop military action overseas.
You can't roll back tariffs on your own.
How can you lower costs for Pennsylvania residents?
Well, to continue to do what I've done here
over the last four years,
you know, I've cut taxes 10 times.
I've never raised them.
We passed the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit
to give nearly a million Pennsylvanians
who are working, who are struggling to get by,
to give them about 800 bucks back in their pocket.
We've tripled the child care tax credit.
We cut taxes four times for our small businesses.
We delivered the largest targeted tax cut
for seniors in more than 20 years.
I mean, those are some examples
of the work that we have done here,
and I'm going to continue reducing costs,
making child care more affordable,
as we talked about before,
bringing down the cost of housing,
making sure especially our seniors
have access to that affordable housing.
There's a whole lot more we can do,
and it will be aided by a Democratic majority
in my House and Senate.
I do got to ask you,
a lot of folks are concerned about election interference
and just the security and safety of voting this time of year.
What can you tell folks in Pennsylvania?
Are elections safe?
Are elections secure?
Yeah, we have had free and fair,
safe and secure elections on my watch,
and we will have another free and fair,
safe and secure election
where we will respect the will of the people,
regardless of who they vote for,
whether a Democrat or a Republican.
Now, we anticipate that Donald Trump
will try to interfere with our election.
And this isn't hyperbole.
Remember back in 2020,
I was the Attorney General
when Trump and his enablers sued me
43 different times
to try and throw out the votes
of the people of Pennsylvania.
Ironically, my opponent was part of those lawsuits,
trying to throw away,
throw out votes.
I won every single lawsuit.
And I constructed a team in the governor's office
that's been working for more than a year
in anticipation of these types of lawsuits
and these types of efforts
that we expect from the Trump administration
on the eve of the election
or just after the polls close.
We'll be ready.
And my message to the people of Pennsylvania is,
whether you choose to vote by mail
or you choose to vote in person,
your ballot will be counted,
your ballot is secure,
and I will protect the will of the people.
- Now, Governor, obviously, Tuesday's a big election,
but a lot of folks are already talking about 2028.
And I do gotta ask you,
because Pennsylvania folks in my comments section
all the time say,
you gotta ask Governor Shapiro,
is he at least thinking about the future?
Is 2028 on your mind at all?
Don't, you don't have to announce it,
just be thinking about it. - No, no, no, look,
and I appreciate the question.
I'm humbled by the question.
I'm really not.
I mean, I feel such importance in these midterms.
Yeah, of course, to get myself reelected,
but I think especially to make sure we elect the president,
I think especially to make sure we elect Democrats
down the ballot.
I mean, literally here in Pennsylvania,
we have enough competitive congressional races
to literally tilt the balance of power in Washington.
I wanna have a check on Donald Trump,
and I've got a unique ability here in Pennsylvania
to do that.
I wanna win that trifecta in Harrisburg.
I mean, I want you to think about this.
If I can win a trifecta,
I can literally double the wages
for over 100,000 Pennsylvanians overnight,
just by nearly, - Right.
- more than doubling the minimum wage.
So I'm focused only on this.
I appreciate the nice words in the comment.
And frankly, what I would ask people in the comments to do
is just make your plan to vote.
These midterms are so critical,
and that's what I want people focused on.
- Governor Shapiro, appreciate the time.
Hey folks, thanks so much for watching.
Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news
and daily hits throughout the day.
Make sure to follow, subscribe.
See you soon for more.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
U.S. District Judge Darren Gales permanently dismissed Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, ruling it lacked merit and dismissing it with prejudice, meaning Trump can never refile.
The judge found Trump failed to prove actual malice, a legal standard required for public figures to win defamation claims, and ordered the Journal to recover legal fees.
Trump’s separate $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC is now in jeopardy, with a magistrate judge threatening to dismiss it unless Trump produces key documents by November 23.
Republican-led state governments across Alaska, Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas are actively rejecting or dismissing Trump’s legal challenges, citing them as meritless and politically motivated.
In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro emphasizes that elections are secure, citing past victories over Trump’s legal attempts to overturn votes, and stresses voter confidence and cost-reduction policies.
Shapiro outlines a bold policy agenda for a Democratic trifecta, including raising the minimum wage to $15, protecting abortion rights, and investing in affordable housing and clean energy.
Trump’s political panic in swing states—such as Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina—highlights a growing backlash against his leadership, with voters expressing fatigue over corruption and war policies.
The upcoming election is seen as a pivotal moment for accountability, with Shapiro urging voters to prioritize democratic integrity and tangible policy reforms over partisan division.
Summary:
Donald Trump has suffered a decisive legal defeat in his long-running defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, with a federal judge permanently dismissing it due to lack of merit and failure to meet the "actual malice" standard. The ruling, which denies Trump the right to refile, marks a major setback in his legal efforts. His lawsuit against the BBC is now under threat, with a judge demanding critical documents and a deposition.
Across multiple states, Republican-led governments are rejecting Trump’s legal challenges, signaling growing political panic as election day approaches. In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro asserts that elections are secure and emphasizes voter confidence, having previously defended against Trump’s 2020 legal attacks. He outlines a comprehensive policy vision for a Democratic trifecta, including a $15 minimum wage, abortion rights protections, and major investments in affordable housing and clean energy.
Shapiro highlights voter frustration with Trump’s policies on inflation, war, and corruption, and stresses the importance of democratic accountability. As the election nears, he urges citizens to focus on voting and shaping a more equitable future. The broader narrative underscores a shift in public sentiment, with voters demanding transparency, economic relief, and institutional integrity—particularly in the face of Trump's legal and political overreach.
FAQs
A federal judge permanently dismissed Trump's defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal with prejudice, meaning he can no longer refile it. The judge found the claims lacked merit and ruled that Trump did not prove actual malice.
Trump claimed the letter he wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 was fake and falsely published by the Wall Street Journal in 2025. He sued for billions of dollars, arguing the publication defamed him.
Yes, the judge found that the Wall Street Journal's reporting was truthful and that Trump failed to prove the letter was false or that the Journal acted with actual malice.
Yes, but it is at risk. A U.S. magistrate judge ordered Trump to provide key discovery documents by November 23 and to sit for a deposition by December 11, indicating the case could be dismissed.
It means the lawsuit is permanently closed, and Trump cannot refile it under the same claims or facts, as the court found no legal basis for the case.
Yes. Trump’s lawsuit in Alaska against a Senate candidate is being dismissed by Republican state leaders, and his efforts to block election processes in several states are being challenged and criticized.
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