President Donald Trump’s latest defamation suit, filed in response to a recent story by The Wall Street Journal, could raise more questions about the president’s relationship with the late financier, Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump on Friday filed the lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson, and Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.
The suit, which seeks at least $10 billion in damages, accuses the group of committing defamation by publishing an article about a suggestive letter bearing Trump’s name that the Journal reported was given to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has denied that he wrote the letter.
Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor who served as lead attorney for Sandy Hook families in their defamation suit against Alex Jones, told BI that the lawsuit has several possible paths: the defendants move to dismiss the case with a limited discovery process, they skip the motion for dismissal and move instead for an open discovery process, or they settle out of court.
In a statement after the lawsuit was filed, a Dow Jones spokesperson said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Representatives for News Corp., Trump’s legal team, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
A discovery process
Damon Dunn, a First Amendment and media attorney, told BI that, in order to win his suit at trial, Trump would have to prove the story was false, damaging to his reputation, and published with constitutional or “actual” malice — a high legal standard requiring the plaintiff to prove the defendant knew the statement was false, or acted with reckless disregard for its veracity, when publishing it.
“The provenance of the ‘card’ appears suspect, but, even so, is it defamatory that one millionaire sent a birthday card to another in 2003 before Epstein was discovered?” Dunn said, referring to the time before Epstein had been convicted of sex crimes.
The discovery process could be limited to whether the Journal published with actual malice, even if it wrongly attributed the card to Trump, Dunn said. That would be similar to when a court dismissed actor Justin Baldoni’s defamation case against The New York Times, he added.
However, Mattei said that the Journal may seek reciprocal discovery, meaning it can ask Trump to provide them with any information or evidence he has not only about the writing of the letter but also about his relationship with Epstein, even about the extent to which he may have been aware of Epstein’s crimes.
“If Trump’s defense is that this was false, then any evidence suggesting that he had a relationship with Epstein, the degree to which that relationship was close or not, would be relevant to the question of whether or not it’s likely Trump had any sort of role in this letter,” Mattei said. “And so an aggressive Wall Street Journal here would seek broad discovery about the extent of Trump’s relationship with Epstein.”
Dunn said it’s possible the defendants may pursue a reciprocal discovery process, but it would be expensive, and Trump’s relationship with Epstein would be of “questionable relevance” to the proceedings, so such a move may not be worth it in the end.
Mattei said he felt Trump’s case is unlikely to have merit, describing the suit as Trump’s attempt to “explore what kind of power and leverage he has over the American media.” Still, the judge will decide how long the procedural elements of the case take to play out.
“There will be some period of weeks where The Wall Street Journal will be able to file its motion to dismiss if it wants to make a request for discovery, the judgment rule on that request could take a little bit more time,” Mattei said. “And so if it is indeed contested, you could see the initial phase of this, including discovery, playing out over the next six months.”
Trump’s long history with Epstein
The suit against Murdoch and the Journal reporters comes as Trump continues to grapple with his ties to Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
Trump has said that he was friends with Epstein for more than 15 years, beginning in the 1980s. The pair were regularly seen socializing at parties, and Trump told New York Magazine in 2002 that Epstein was a “terrific guy.”
Trump said in 2019 that he and Epstein had a “falling out” in 2004 after a real estate dispute, and he was “not a fan” of his former friend, The New York Times reported.
Publicly available documents related to Epstein’s sex trafficking trial have not revealed any wrongdoing by Trump; his name and those of some of his family members were listed in one of Epstein’s contact books, and Trump is mentioned as a passenger in flight logs for Epstein’s private jets.
As part of his reelection campaign, Trump promised he would make public all the available files related to the government’s investigation into Epstein’s crimes. The Justice Department published an unsigned memo on July 7 that said it won’t release any more “Epstein Files.”
In a Saturday post on Truth Social, Trump revisited the idea of releasing more Epstein-related documents, writing that he had asked the Justice Department to “release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval.”
“With that being said, and even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request,” Trump said in the post. “It will always be more, more, more.”
This story has been updated to clarify the legal issues.
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