Topline
The lawyers of President Donald Trump and media magnate Rupert Murdoch have agreed to pause an effort to force the 94-year-old billionaire to testify before a Florida federal court in the president’s defamation case against The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Trump’s ties with Jeffrey Epstein until the Murdoch-owned outlet’s motion to dismiss the case is heard.
President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion libel suit against billionaire Rupert Murdoch and his newspaper the Wall Street Journal.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
According to a filing made before the Southern District of Florida federal court, both sides have agreed to a deal that until Murdoch and the Journal’s dismissal motion is heard, neither side will “engage in discovery.”
The filing states that if Murdoch’s dismissal motion is denied, the billionaire’s “deposition shall occur in person, at a mutually agreed-upon location in the United States” within 30 days.
If the deal is approved by the court, the 94-year-old News Corp founder must provide “a sworn declaration describing his current health condition” within three days and share “regularly scheduled updates” on his health thereafter.
The deal will also require Murdoch to alert Trump’s lawyers if “there is a material change in his health,” and failure to comply with these health updates will result in an expedited deposition of the billionaire.
What Do We Know About Trump’s Efforts To Get Murdoch’s Testimony?
Late last month, Trump filed a motion before the court seeking an “expedited deposition” from Murdoch. The motion argued that the 94-year-old’s advanced age, reported health issues, and his residence in New York may complicate efforts to get his testimony later as the case moves forward in a Florida federal court. The motion had requested that Murdoch’s deposition take place within 15 days, but the judge overseeing the case had given Murdoch until Monday to respond to the request.
What Do We Know About Trump’s Suit Against Wsj And Murdoch?
Last month, the Wall Street Journal published a report alleging that a sexually suggestive letter and a hand-drawn image of a naked woman included in disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday album bore the president’s name and signature. The report immediately drew the president’s ire, and a statement issued on Truth Social claimed that “The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly” by Trump that this letter “was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued.” Trump swiftly followed through with his threat and filed a defamation suit in a Florida federal court against Murdoch, the Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones, and the two reporters who wrote the story, seeking $10 billion in damages. After the suit was filed, Trump said he was looking forward to “getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper.”
Tangent
The filing by Trump’s attorneys seeking an expedited deposition from Murdoch last week alleged that Murdoch “advised President Trump that ‘he would take care of it’” after the president reached out to him disputing the story, but the outlet still went ahead and published the piece. The filing cited reports that Murdoch claimed “to others that he had direct involvement in the framing of the Article,” and alleged that “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.”
Further Reading
Trump Trolls Rupert Murdoch: Asks For 94-Year-Old To Be Deposed ASAP In Wall Street Journal Epstein Case (Forbes)
Trump Sues Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones Over WSJ Story Linking Him To Jeffrey Epstein (Forbes)
