REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
- Trump wants to depose Rupert Murdoch ASAP.His lawyers said the media mogul is 94 and has had "health scares."The lawsuit involves a Wall Street Journal article on Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
President Donald Trump wants to depose Rupert Murdoch as soon as possible.
On Monday, Trump's lawyers asked a federal judge to force Murdoch to sit for a deposition for his lawsuit on an expedited basis, arguing that the News Corp. executive is 94 years old and his "recent significant health scares" could hinder his ability to show up in court for a trial.
"Murdoch has suffered, or is continuing to suffer, from multiple health issues," Trump's filing notes.
The filing goes on to note reports that Murdoch collapsed during an interview with a journalist several years ago and was hospitalized after getting COVID-19, among other health issues in recent years.
The request from Trump's lawyers comes in a lawsuit the president filed against Murdoch and News Corp. over a Wall Street Journal article about Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the Journal report, Trump wrote a "bawdy" letter for Epstein's 50th birthday that included a cryptic message.
"Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret," the letter said, according to the Journal, which also reported that it featured an illustration of a nude woman and featured Trump's signature.
The Journal article did not accuse Trump of any sexual misconduct related to Epstein. Epstein's 50th birthday, in 2003, was well before he pleaded guilty to sex crimes and registered as a sex offender. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on a separate set of criminal charges for sex trafficking.
Trump's lawsuit says the Journal "concocted this story to malign President Trump's character and integrity" and that "no authentic letter or drawing exists."
"If the purported letter in the Article somehow actually exists, which it does not, and the Defendants have it in their possession, which they do not, Murdoch has easy access to it," Trump's attorneys wrote in their Monday filing requesting an expedited deposition of Murdoch.
The Journal has said it stands by its reporting. A News Corp. spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump's Monday filing.
US District Judge Darrin Gayles, who is overseeing the defamation lawsuit in Miami federal court, asked Murdoch to respond to the request for an expedited deposition by August 4.
On Monday, Trump told journalists that he had a "breach" with Epstein because the pedophile hired employees who had worked for him.
"He stole people that worked for me," Trump said. "I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He did it again, and I threw him out of the place — persona non grata."
