Trump’s Lawsuit Against The Wall Street Journal Isn’t Going Well

A U.S. district judge ruled that the president can’t use the discovery process in his ridiculous lawsuit against the newspaper.

President Trump’s attempt to sue The Wall Street Journal for defamation has hit a snag.

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled Wednesday that Trump can’t seek discovery based on actual malice from the publication in his lawsuit, calling it “improper” and saying the court couldn’t allow Trump to use the legal process “to help him properly plead his claims.”

“Thus, allowing President Trump to conduct discovery on actual malice, where his initial attempt at pleading a defamation claim fell short, is exactly the type of ‘expensive yet groundless litigation’ the Eleventh Circuit has cautioned against,” Gayles wrote in his ruling.

Trump sued the Journal in July 2025, claiming that the newspaper’s reporting that Trump submitted a letter and explicit drawing to a birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein was defamatory, denying the report’s accuracy. In April, Gayles dismissed the lawsuit, saying that Trump didn’t make a plausible allegation that the newspaper acted with “actual malice,” but allowed Trump the ability to file an amended complaint, which he did.

But now, Trump can’t use the discovery process to gather evidence that the Journal defamed him, although Gayles did leave the door open for him to file another amended complaint. It doesn’t seem likely that he’d succeed a third time, as the House Oversight Committee included the birthday book, complete with the drawing from Trump, in a September release of Epstein materials from his estate in September.

Earlier this week, Trump’s Justice Department subpoenaed the Journal’s reporters over leaks from the Department of Defense related to the Iran war, which its publisher, Dow Jones, said “represent an attack on constitutionally protected news gathering.” The president’s continued attacks on the Journal, as well as any other news outlet that criticizes him, not only violate the freedom of the press but are meritless.

MTG Locks Horns With MAGA Influencer as Trump’s Base Fractures

Marjorie Taylor Green tore into her former friend Benny Johnson.

The MAGA movement is splitting at the seams.

Two of the faction’s biggest names—ex-Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and podcaster Benny Johnson—traded blows online Wednesday, airing one another’s rumored dirty laundry after Johnson attacked Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie.

Johnson had torn into Massie, a longtime critic of the president, over recent allegations that the Kentucky Republican paid hush-money to a former girlfriend, Cynthia West. West claimed that Massie offered to pay her up to $5,000 to drop a wrongful termination complaint against one of his allies, Representative Victoria Spartz. Massie is up for reelection in November, with his local primary scheduled to take place next week. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Johnson dove into the accusation, deriding Massie as a “pig” who has been “squealing” about Donald Trump. Johnson also compared Massie’s fresh scandal to that of Eric Swalwell, whose campaign for California governor imploded last month after he was accused of sexual misconduct and rape by multiple women.

The unforgiving coverage—and inappropriate comparison—did not sit right with Greene. Responding to a clip of Johnson’s show, Greene said: “This is a clinic on how to call out the lies of social media influencers that get paid to spew propaganda.”

Greene added that Johnson had not given her the “courtesy” of asking “if any of these lies were true,” and that she had previously thought of Johnson as a friend.

Johnson hit back at Greene, apparently unmoved by the appeal to their former alliance.

“I know everyone has become very fragile and overly-emotional lately so let me explain this calmly and slowly: I cover trending news topics on my show,” Johnson wrote. “I’m entitled to my opinions on these matters. I serve my audience. That’s my job. And unlike you, I won’t run away from my job when things get tough.”

Greene went back to settle the score.

“You are a LYING scumbag @bennyjohnson and just to be clear we are definitely not friends,” she wrote. “All you cover and elevate are trending LIES. And get paid to do it. Literally the most repulsive level of MAGA.”

The former Georgia lawmaker then suggested that she had heard various rumors about Johnson’s misconduct, including “allegations about young men at conservative conferences,” allegations that he was “paid by Russia and Israel,” and allegations that Johnson “rips off people’s content and articles” and pretends that they’re his own.

“More drama and crash outs. Got it,” replied Johnson, referring to the aforementioned charges as “evidence free slander.”

Federal Judge Blasts “Untrustworthy” DOJ Over Gender-Affirming Care

The Department of Justice, “under oath, misrepresented salient facts,” according to Rhode Island Judge Mary McElroy.

A federal judge sharply rebuked the Justice Department Wednesday, calling out a subpoena to a Rhode Island children’s hospital for having “under oath, misrepresented salient facts.”

Judge Mary McElroy of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island said that Rhode ‌Island Hospital didn’t have to comply with the government’s subpoena for the medical records of minors treated for gender dysphoria with drugs such as puberty blockers, among other documents. Previously, a judge in Texas had ordered the subpoena at the government’s request.

“DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case. It has misrepresented and withheld information to both this Court and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas,” McElroy said in her ruling, and accused the government of forum shopping, or choosing a friendly district court to get a favorable ruling.

“It did so in an obvious effort to shield its recent investigative tactics—previously rejected by every other court to review them—from this Court’s review, in favor of a distant forum that DOJ deems friendly to its political positions,” McElroy’s ruling said.

The Trump administration is targeting transgender and gender-affirming care around the country, and has tried to........

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