Murdoch fights Trump's $10 bn libel suit, calls it 'affront' to free speech

US President Donald Trump accused Rupert Murdoch and News Corp of damaging his reputation, but the media giant insisted its reporting on Trump's Epstein link was factually correct

Rupert Murdoch and News Corp have urged a US judge to dismiss President Donald Trump’s $10 billion libel lawsuit over a Wall Street Journal article on his alleged links to the late Jeffrey Epstein, calling the case as “an affront to the First Amendment”.

 

The 94-year-old chairman emeritus of News Corp on Monday moved a Miami federal court to dismiss the suit, arguing that the news report about a risqué birthday note Donald Trump allegedly sent Epstein is accurate and does not malign the President’s character, according to a Bloomberg report. Trump had filed the lawsuit on July 18, accusing Murdoch, News Corp, and The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co of damaging his reputation.

 

 

Trace Epstein’s history and Trump’s connection 

Epstein was charged in 2006 with sexually abusing underage girls and pleaded guilty in 2008 to two felony counts. He died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Media reports suggested that Trump and Epstein were associates, frequently seen together at social gatherings in Florida and New York. Donald Trump, however, has maintained that he expelled Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club after repeated disagreements.

 

What is the Epstein ‘birthday book’ linked to Trump? 

Trump’s lawsuit came as he faced mounting criticism over the administration’s handling of documents connected to the disgraced financier. The Wall Street Journal story, centred on a 'birthday book' compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday, intensified scrutiny of Trump. House Democrats investigating Epstein’s sex-trafficking network earlier this month released the alleged birthday note said to have been sent by Trump.

The news report, published on July 17, referred to a note signed by Trump that was delivered to Epstein in 2003 alongside a sketch of a naked woman. Lawyers for Murdoch said on Monday that the article was accurate and not defamatory.

 

“By its very nature, this meritless lawsuit threatens to chill the speech of those who dare to publish content that the President does not like,” Murdoch and News Corp argued in their motion before the Miami federal court.

 

Trump’s $15 bn lawsuit against NYT dismissed 

Separately, a US federal judge dismissed Trump’s $15 billion defamation case against The New York Times, citing deficiencies in its legal foundation. US District Judge Steven Merryday ruled on Friday that Trump had failed to comply with a federal requirement demanding a “short and plain statement” justifying his claim for relief. The court observed that a legal filing is not “a protected platform to rage against an adversary”. 

In a Truth Social post, Trump had accused the newspaper of carrying out a “decades-long method of lying” about him, his family, and his political movement.

 

The New York Times, in response, welcomed the “quick ruling, which recognised that the complaint was a political document rather than a serious legal filing.” “It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” the newspaper said in a statement earlier this week.