Topline
President Donald Trump asked a Florida judge Monday to order News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch to testify immediately in the president’s ongoing defamation case over The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, citing the 94-year-old billionaire’s advanced age to justify the court getting testimony from Murdoch within the next two weeks.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch looks on as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House ... More
Trump filed a motion in federal court asking for an “expedited deposition” from Murdoch, citing the 94-year-old’s age, recent health issues and residence in New York City, which Trump claimed might make it difficult for him to testify at trial in Florida if the case moves forward.
Trump has sued Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal over its July 17 article alleging the president sent a “bawdy” letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday, which included a drawing of a naked woman and Trump telling the late financier, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
The president has vehemently denied ever writing such a letter, and has taken particular issue with Murdoch, alleging the Journal published the article after Trump personally reached out to the media titan and told him the reporting was false.
Murdoch allegedly “advised President Trump that ‘he would take care of it’” after the president reached out about the Journal’s reporting, Monday’s court filing alleges, but the article was then published anyway, after Murdoch allegedly “discuss[ed] the propriety of publishing the Article” with others at the Journal and was reportedly involved in the framing of the piece.
Trump asked for the deposition to take place within the next 15 days, but Judge Darrin P. Gayles only asked for Murdoch to respond to Trump’s request by Aug. 4, suggesting any deposition will not take place for at least a week.
News Corp has not yet responded to a request for comment.
While Murdoch’s deposition may take place sooner, there isn’t expected to be much other movement in the Journal case for the next two months, as the court has asked the defendants to respond to Trump’s lawsuit by Sept. 22. Legal experts have been broadly skeptical of Trump’s defamation arguments, but it remains to be seen if the case will go to trial, or if a judge could dismiss it sooner. If the lawsuit doesn’t get thrown out, then Trump and others involved with the case may also be deposed, and legal experts have warned that the fact-finding phase of the lawsuit could backfire on Trump by revealing information about his relationship with Epstein.
“Because Defendants published the Article after President Trump spoke directly with Murdoch and advised him that the letter referenced in the Article was fake, Murdoch’s direct involvement further underscores Defendants’ actual malice and intent behind the decision to publish the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements about President Trump identified in the Complaint,” Trump alleged in the court filing Monday.