Trump Sues Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch Over Epstein Report
Trump claims the article, linking him to Epstein, is "fake news" causing reputational harm. The Journal defends its reporting, setting up a legal battle requiring Trump to prove "actual malice."
US President Donald Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch over the newspaper's report on Epstein detail.
The newspaper, and its owners, who have been sued for at least $10 billion on Friday reported the Trump's name was on a 2003 nirthday greeting for Jeffrey Epstein that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared, reported Reuters.
The lawsuit has been filed in Miami federal court and names Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its CEO Robert Thomson, and two Wall Street Journal reporters as defendants. The lawsuit argues that those named above defamed Trump and caused him to suffer "overwhelming" financial and reputational harm.
Epstein, the disgraced financier who faced charges of sex trafficking involving minors, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. His death sparked a flurry of conspiracy theories, many of which continue to circulate among Trump’s political supporters, some of whom believe Epstein’s ties to the powerful were deliberately covered up.
Trump, who has acknowledged knowing Epstein socially but claims to have cut ties with him well before Epstein's legal troubles surfaced in 2006, issued a forceful rebuttal on his Truth Social platform following the publication of the Journal article.
“We have just filed a POWERHOUSE lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” he wrote.
He added, “I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case.”
In response, a spokesperson for Dow Jones defended the integrity of the reporting, stating: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our journalism and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Trump’s lawsuit brands the reported birthday greeting as “fake” and claims the article lacked credible sourcing. “Tellingly, the article does not explain whether defendants have obtained a copy of the letter, have seen it, have had it described to them, or any other circumstances that would otherwise lend credibility,” the complaint argues.
To succeed in his defamation claim, Trump will need to meet the high legal bar of proving “actual malice” — that the journalists either knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
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