David Folkenflik
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The judge left the door open to Trump refiling the suit, however,
and a spokesperson for his legal team tells NPR it will do just that.
The Journal reported the greeting was part of a celebratory book put together in 2003 for Epstein's 50th birthday by his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump said it was fake and sued as a private citizen, though the Murdochs are his political allies.
District Court Judge Darren Gales wrote that Trump had failed to allege sufficiently that the Journal had acted with what's called actual malice, either knowledge a story is false or failure to seek the truth.
Gales found the Journal had made numerous efforts to verify its reporting and included Trump's denial.
The judge left the door open to Trump refiling the suit, however, and a spokesperson for his legal team tells NPR it will do just that.
I think it's not just a matter of regulation.
It's a matter of the scientific agenda.
Judge Paul Friedman started and ended his opinion by stressing the importance of the First Amendment and of a free press.
The rest of it was just as heavy sledding for the Defense Department.
The judge knocked down new rules requiring reporters to work from a remote annex and to be accompanied by an official escort at all times.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the new policy addressed every element of the judge's prior ruling and that the department would appeal.
Ted Boutros, the trial attorney for The New York Times, called the decision both a vindication of the court's authority and of the First Amendment's protections of independent journalism.
David Folkenflik, NPR News.