Obama-appointee Judge Darrin P. Gayles has been assigned to President Donald Trump‘s defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over the publication’s story about an alleged birthday drawing for Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump strongly denied drawing or writing the bawdy 50th birthday message for the late pedophile financier Epstein, who was a former friend of the president’s. He said
Gayles serves on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where Trump’s lawsuit was filed.
He was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2014, becoming the first openly gay African-American man to serve on the federal bench.
Trump has often accused the judiciary of political bias against him, sharply criticizing judges appointed by Democratic presidents who do not rule in his favor in cases.
Trump Slams ‘Defamatory Lies’
In a post on Truth Social following the Journal’s story, Trump said he had personally warned the newspaper and its owner Rupert Murdoch that the Epstein birthday letter “was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued,” calling the report “defamatory lies”.
“We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,” said a spokesperson for Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
The alleged letter is dated 2003, several years before Epstein’s illicit activities were publicly known, and said to feature several lines of typewritten text surrounded by the outline of a naked woman, sketched in marker.
The illustration also includes two small arcs representing breasts, with Trump’s signature allegedly written below the waist and resembling pubic hair, the report said.
According to the Journal, the letter concludes: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after signing the “GENIUS Act” into law during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House July 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after signing the “GENIUS Act” into law during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House July 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Epstein MAGA Pressure on Trump
Trump is under pressure over the Epstein issue from his own MAGA base, a rare split in a deeply loyal political movement that has mostly held together.
He and his officials had promised full transparency on the Epstein case files amid rampant speculation that the financier had a client list of powerful people for whom he procured children to abuse, and then blackmailed them.
But the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concluded that there was no credible evidence of a client list or that Epstein blackmailed people, after a review of the files.
The news angered Trump supporters who were expecting a different conclusion. But Trump has called the Epstein story a “hoax” and a “scam” and urged his supporters to move on.
Trump’s ties to Epstein, who was once a member of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, until he was barred for harassing the daughter of another member, have complicated the president’s efforts to draw a line under the story.
He has since directed the DOJ to release more material, in particular grand jury testimonies related to the Epstein case.