President Donald Trump has been dealt an early blow in his libel lawsuit against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal.
The case was assigned to a federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama.
Judge Darrin Gayles was elevated to the bench under the Obama administration in 2014, becoming the first openly gay, African-American man to serve as a top-level judge.
He will now oversee the $10 billion lawsuit filed by the president on Friday over the newspaper’s report of a birthday letter he allegedly sent to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Darrin Gayles was elevated to the bench under the Obama administration in 2014, becoming the first openly gay, African-American man to serve as a top-level judge.
He will now oversee the $10 billion lawsuit filed by the president on Friday over the newspaper’s report of a birthday letter he allegedly sent to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has vehemently denied writing the letter, which was sent in 2003 and features a drawing of a naked woman with his name mimicking pubic hair.
“We have certain things in common, Jeffrey,” Trump is alleged to have written on the gift. “Enigmas never age, have you noticed that? … Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
The article infuriated the president, whose lawsuit insists the letter is completely fabricated, paving the way for the Journal to prove otherwise.
“On the one hand, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo (who wrote the report) falsely pass off as fact that President Trump, in 2003, wrote, drew, and signed this letter,” Trump’s lawyers argue in the lawsuit.
And on the other hand, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo failed to attach the letter, failed to attach the alleged drawing, failed to show proof that President Trump authored or signed any such letter, and failed to explain how this purported letter was obtained.”
“The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists,” the filing further states.
