Donald Trump is demanding that Rupert Murdoch, the 94-year-old media mogul, sit for a rapid-fire deposition in a defamation case that’s drawing heavy political and legal heat. At the center of the storm: a *Wall Street Journal* article linking Trump to a dubious birthday note allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003—complete with a risqué drawing and cryptic talk of “shared secrets.”
Trump, now back in the political spotlight, isn’t having it. Just one day after the piece dropped, he filed a \$10 billion lawsuit against the Journal, its parent companies, and the journalists behind the story, branding the alleged letter as a total fabrication. He claims he even gave Murdoch a heads-up before publication that the document was fake—prompting the media baron to allegedly assure him he’d “take care of it.”
That alleged conversation is now a legal landmine. Trump’s lawyers say it proves the defendants acted with “actual malice”—a crucial (and notoriously hard-to-meet) threshold for defamation cases involving public figures.
They’ve asked U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles to order Murdoch’s testimony within 15 days. The judge responded with a deadline: Murdoch has until August 4 to say whether he’s in or out.
Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal, isn’t saying much—other than it stands by its story and plans to fight back. News Corp and Murdoch’s camp have remained tight-lipped.
The Journal article hit as pressure mounted on the government to release more documents from the Justice Department’s murky Epstein investigation—fueling theories, tension, and lawsuits.
Trump’s link to Epstein? Complicated. The two were once known to socialize, but Trump has long claimed they parted ways before Epstein’s arrest and subsequent jailhouse suicide in 2019.
Legal experts remain skeptical. To win, Trump would need to do more than prove the story was wrong—he’d have to show the Journal either knew it was false or published it with reckless disregard for the truth. That’s a steep climb, even with a Murdoch deposition in play.
The media battle is on, and the courtroom showdown is only just beginning.
