As a public figure, don't you need to prove they know they were lying rather than just negligent? That's a high bar.
Yes, but (per Trump) he told WSJ that the card was fake. So if they went ahead with their story despite the denial, they may be liable. (counter point: who the fuck trusts a politician?) The defense there would hinge on how much fact checking and attempts to properly establish the legitimate origins of the card. If they had reasonable grounds to assume the card was legit, they're in the clear.
2000's WSJ I'd have no doubts they did their due diligence and this would be a complete waste of time.
Modern day WSJ its a toss up; I'd say its not quite even money some TDS cabal just hit publish anyway because #resist, but its closer to even money than it should be.
The 10 billion is absolutely insane, but I'm guessing Trump is billing the entire US govt response to this as part of the damage.
But here's how this really works:
(Deep breath) Orgs like the WSJ have lawsuit insurance. This covers them for trial and any verdicts. The counter to this is that the org has to do whatever the insurance company says or they are on their own: it doesn't matter how good the case is, if insurance says settle, you settle.
So very likely the play is Trump sues for 10 billion, but really just wants a page-1 retraction, so the WSJ's insurance provider - unless they think a judge will toss the case - will tell the WSJ "Print the fucking retraction you mongs".
Are they even that significant? Trump and Epstein are both powerful New York socialites, of course they move in similar circles and know each other. It would be like being a big actor and being at events or even working with Harvey Weinstein or being a big time musician and going to an event with Diddy. Association doesn't always equal guilt, and again Trump turning against Epstin in the early 2000s while other associates kept quite and stayed in contact with him makes me be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that his association didn't involve pedo island adventures.
Trump and Epstein also lived very close to each other in Florida. Close enough Epstein was reportedly banned from Mar a Largo before his 2008 arrest (and confirmed after).
While its fun to bring up, I don't think Bill got any pedostrange from Epstein either. But Bill did get money from him and per testimony Epstein used Clinton's star power on at least one occasion to get his hooks into some girls.
