U.S. President Donald Trump has refiled a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which reported that he sent an obscene letter with sexual undertones to the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump's legal team filed a complaint with the Florida federal court on the 26th (local time), seeking $10 billion (approximately 15 trillion won) in damages from two WSJ reporters, publisher Dow Jones, its parent company News Corp, and News Corp Honorary Chairman Rupert Murdoch, CNN and The New York Times (NYT) reported.

The lawsuit stems from a WSJ report on July 17 last year, which claimed that Trump sent a congratulatory letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, featuring an obscene depiction of a nude woman, and signed with Trump's name, "Donald."

The existence of this letter was later confirmed when the U.S. Congress obtained and released a copy of the birthday booklet from Epstein's estate. However, Trump denied sending such a letter to Epstein and filed a $10 billion lawsuit the following day, which was the largest defamation claim at the time.

Florida federal judge Darrin Gayles dismissed the lawsuit on the 13th of last month, stating that "actual malice" was not proven in the WSJ's reporting. However, he did not address whether the letter was actually written by Trump, deeming it a "question of fact that cannot be resolved at this stage of the proceeding."

In response, Trump's side submitted an amended complaint with similar content a month later. A spokesperson for Trump's legal team told CNN, "The President will continue to hold accountable those who mislead the American people with fake news and defamation."

The amended complaint argued that the fact that the WSJ reporters' process of obtaining and verifying the letter was not explained in the article demonstrates "actual malice." NYT explained that actual malice means reporting with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth, and it is a legal standard that must be proven in defamation lawsuits by public officials.

A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the publisher of WSJ, stated, "We have complete confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit."

The released 'Epstein letter' [Photo courtesy of Reuters-Yonhap News]