Donald Trump's $14 billion lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal over their reporting of his connection to Jeffrey Epstein has been dismissed by a judge.
Florida Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Trump had not "plausibly alleged" the article was published with actual malice.
"The Complaint comes nowhere close to this standard," Gayles wrote.
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"Quite the opposite."
The judge noted that Trump, the Department of Justice and the FBI were given an opportunity to comment in the article, and the president did so.
As a result, the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, meaning he can re-file it with amendments.
At the centre of the lawsuit was an article first published by the New York broadsheet and then widely covered elsewhere.
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The newspaper reported that Trump wrote a letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday.
The letter was framed by a sketch of what appeared to be a naked woman with Trump's signature in place of public hair.
The letter was written in the form of a dialogue between "Donald" and "Jeffrey".
"Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?" Donald says in the script.
"A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret."
The birthday book had been compiled by Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and featured contributions from other powerful friends of the paedophile.
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Trump had denied to the Wall Street Journal that he had written the letter, and insisted that it never existed.
But Congress's House Oversight Committee later released a copy of the letter.
Gayles gave Trump until April 27 to file an amended lawsuit if he chose to do so.
One of Trump's lawyers said they would do so, describing it as a "powerhouse lawsuit".
Trump has filed many defamation lawsuits against major media outlets during his second term in office.
A $22 billion lawsuit against the New York Times was tossed by a different Florida judge in September last year.
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Lawsuits against ABC News and the CBS show 60 Minutes were both settled out of court.
But this lawsuit targeting Rupert Murdoch was a striking move from the president.
Trump has a long history with the Australian media mogul's US publications.
Trump's rise as a celebrity property developer and then as president may not have happened without the implicit support of Murdoch's Fox News and the New York Post.
Jeffrey Epstein died in a federal prison cell in New York during Trump's first term as president.
The cause of death was given as suicide.
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