Lawyers for President Donald Trump are asking a federal judge in Florida to deny a request by the Wall Street Journal and its parent companies, Dow Jones and News Corp, to dismiss a $10 billion defamation lawsuit over the paper's reporting on the bawdy letter allegedly penned by Trump that appeared in a birthday book for disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In a court filing late Monday, Trump's lawyers argued that the July article and surrounding coverage were a "deliberate smear campaign designed to damage President Trump's reputation" and subject the president to "public hatred and ridicule." They also requested oral arguments over the Journal's recent motion to dismiss.

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