Donald Trump is suing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his company, News Corp. He’s additionally suing Dow Jones & Co. and two Wall Street Journal reporters. The crux of the lawsuit is the Journal story that examines Trump’s historical connections to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein, infamous for his sex trafficking and abuse convictions, overshadows these ties.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of publication of a Journal story. One particular letter, which Epstein wrote to himself in 2003 to celebrate his 50th birthday, has garnered a lot of attention, including all the above accolades. Trump claims that the article misrepresents his relationship with Epstein. He has stressed that he severed ties with the convicted sex offender in the mid-2000s. He goes on to insist that Epstein had “stolen people working for” him. This breach of trust created an unbridgeable gulf between them that ended in their alienation.
Trump’s allegations against Epstein include warnings he received about Epstein’s behavior. “I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether it was spa or no spa,’” Trump stated. This comment underscores his concern that Epstein was recruiting staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, FL. Trump claims that these people were escorted from the spa.
With Epstein’s legacy still being challenged and questioned, the focus remains on high-profile individuals who have close ties with him, which is what Epstein’s lawsuit represents. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims who has publicly accused him of abuse for two years now, claims she was trafficked by Epstein after she left Mar-a-Lago. Trump characterized Epstein’s actions as a repeated offense, saying, “And he was fine. And then not long after that, he did it again.”
Speaking of profiting off of a scandal, in a parallel development, Ghislaine Maxwell made news again. She had already been convicted for various offenses related to recruiting underage girls for Epstein. At the beginning of this year, she died by suicide in jail. Just before her death, she was said to have gone into great detail with her mandated report and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two straight days. In the course of these discussions, Maxwell offered to testify before Congress in exchange for her clemency.
David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, stated, “Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency…she would be willing — and eager — to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C.” She eventually agreed to testify, but the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform would not budge in their refusal to give her – or any of Maxwell’s testimony – congressional immunity.
A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee remarked, “The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.” This decision makes it obvious that the committee’s yet unyielding intent to legislate in this field. They stand firm, despite the public’s ongoing interest in Epstein and Maxwell’s ties to powerful people.
Trump’s legal team is further arguing that Murdoch should be required to provide a deposition related to the case in no more than 15 days. They list Murdoch’s extraordinary age of 94 years old as a basis for the expedited request. Trump’s attorneys argued, “These factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial.”
Throughout the course of this litigation, we’ve learned much about the toxic web that connected Epstein. It raises critical questions about accountability for those connected to him. Members of Congress and others are still calling for more information to be released about the deaths of not only Jeffrey Epstein but Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump continues to be defiant regarding his disassociation from Epstein, insisting that their former association does not affect his reputation. He said he didn’t know how much Murdoch’s editorial control would extend and whether he could sway the Journal’s reporting. “I would have assumed that Rupert Murdoch controls [the Journal], but, you know, maybe does, maybe doesn’t,” he remarked.
This litigation has far-reaching consequences, well beyond Trump and Murdoch. It raises important societal questions about to what extent the powerful may be held accountable, and it emphasizes the media’s important role in reporting on these sensitive abuses and exploitation.