A federal judge in Miami dismissed President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and owner Rupert Murdoch on Monday over the newspaper's reporting on Trump's connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump failed to demonstrate that the Wall Street Journal published its article with "actual malice," the legal standard required for public figures to prove defamation. The judge gave Trump the opportunity to file an amended complaint.

The lawsuit, filed in July, centered on a Wall Street Journal article that reported on a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump's signature that was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday. The letter was later released publicly by Congress, which subpoenaed the records from Epstein's estate.

Trump has denied writing the letter and called the Wall Street Journal's story "false, malicious, and defamatory." His lawsuit claimed that "no authentic letter or drawing exists" in which Trump used salacious language.

Attorneys for the newspaper and Murdoch had asked the judge to rule that the article's statements were true and therefore could not be defamatory. However, Judge Gayles wrote that "whether President Trump was the author of the Letter or Epstein's friend are questions of fact that cannot be determined at this stage of the litigation."

Neither the White House nor a spokesperson for Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, immediately responded to requests for comment following the ruling.