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Former President Donald Trump has requested a U.S. court to expedite the deposition of Rupert Murdoch in his ongoing lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, citing the media mogul’s age.
Trump initiated legal action against the billionaire, whose News Corp owns the Journal, over an article alleging the former president authored a “bawdy” letter for Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday in 2003.
In a court filing submitted Monday, Trump’s legal representatives stated they had informed Murdoch of the “fake” nature of the letter prior to the report’s publication.
Trump’s legal team argued for a swift deposition, emphasizing Murdoch’s age of 94 and reports of “recent significant health scares.”
“These factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial,” Trump’s lawyers stated in their filing to the Miami federal court.
The $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal alleges the publication sought to damage the former president’s reputation.
Dow Jones, the Journal’s publisher, has defended its reporting and affirmed its readiness to defend against the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, presiding over the case, has requested Murdoch to respond to Trump’s deposition request by August 4.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the letter bearing Trump’s name “contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.”
“Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person,” the paper reported.
The letter reportedly included a joking reference that “enigmas never age” and purportedly concluded with the words: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump denied writing the note after the article’s July 17 publication, stating, “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”
The article was published amidst increasing pressure on the Trump administration to disclose further information about Epstein.
Trump and Epstein maintained a publicly known friendship for several years. The former president has claimed their relationship deteriorated in 2004, well before Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
In addition to the birthday greeting, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was informed he was among hundreds of individuals named in Justice Department documents pertaining to Epstein.
On Monday, the former president suggested to reporters that his name may have been planted in the Epstein files by former Attorney General Merrick Garland or former FBI director James Comey.
Trump did not provide supporting evidence for his allegations. Garland and Comey have not yet responded to his comments.
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