President Trump and the owner of The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch. Image from The New Daily.
Miami (July 21, 2025) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemns the defamation lawsuit filed by United States President Donald Trump against The Wall Street Journal, its parent company Dow Jones, the News Corp. conglomerate, and two of the newspaper’s reporters, in a new episode of judicial confrontation against media outlets that publish critical information about him.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Miami, seeks at least $20 billion in damages and accuses the newspaper of committing “serious ethical and journalistic failings,” according to the president’s legal team, as cited by CNN.
The case refers to a recently published report revealing the existence of a birthday letter album from 2003 for the late businessman Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, allegedly containing a note signed by Trump, accompanied by a drawing of a naked woman, according to The Wall Street Journal article.
President Trump denied having written the note or made the drawing, calling the story “fake news” and claiming that “no authentic letter or drawing exists,” as reported by the press.
On the Truth Social platform, Trump claimed he directly warned Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., not to publish the information and that Murdoch “stated he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so”.
A spokesperson for The Wall Street Journal said they have “full confidence in the rigor and accuracy” of the journalistic work and that they will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.
“This lawsuit is not an isolated incident; it is part of a strategy to intimidate independent press and deter critical coverage. Using the state’s legal apparatus to silence journalistic voices is a democratic setback and sets a dangerous precedent,” said José Roberto Dutriz, IAPA president and CEO of La Prensa Gráfica in El Salvador.
Martha Ramos, chair of IAPA’s Press Freedom and Information Committee and editorial director of the Mexican Editorial Organization (OEM), added: “When the highest levels of power seek to punish the media for performing their oversight role, it undermines a fundamental pillar of any democracy: the public’s right to be informed. This legal action is a clear attempt at covert censorship.”
The lawsuit is part of a series of legal actions Trump has initiated against media outlets since his 2024 re-election campaign. According to legal experts cited by CNN, there is no known precedent of a sitting president directly suing reporters or media outlets for defamation. In other recent cases, Trump sued ABC News and CBS, later reaching out-of-court settlements in which the networks agreed to pay millions to fund his future presidential library.
A recent report by Reporters Without Borders, titled Six Months of Trump’s War on the Press: Importing and Exporting Authoritarian Trends, warns that the Trump administration has intensified its hostility toward the media using authoritarian tactics drawn from regimes around the world.
The IAPA’s Declaration of Chapultepec, in principles 4 and 5, states that “intimidation” of journalists and “restrictions on the circulation of media or dissemination of their messages” directly contradict and severely curtail press freedom.
Likewise, Declaration of Salta II, in Principle 3, discourages disproportionate lawsuits “that may generate self-censorship or costs that compromise the sustainability of the media outlet.” Such abusive legal actions, known as SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), aim to silence or intimidate the press through financial and legal exhaustion, and often lack legal merit.
The Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights further warns that “direct or indirect pressures aimed at silencing the journalistic work of media professionals are incompatible with freedom of expression.”
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.