That’s exactly what Donald Trump’s legal team has done. Now, they’ve filed their formal notice asking a judge to order that Rupert Murdoch provide his testimony in Trump’s currently $10 billion defamation lawsuit. This lawsuit stems from a Wall Street Journal article that discussed a birthday letter reportedly addressed to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. Trump has not only denied writing the letter, but he’s suing Murdoch to hold him accountable for supposedly publishing defamatory claims against him.
The Wall Street Journal article, which sparked the controversy, included a quote stating, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump’s counterclaims indirect attacks on Murdoch have drawn the most interest. He claims that Murdoch allowed false and defamatory information about him to spread. Trump’s attorneys contend that Murdoch was aware in advance that the letter was false.
“Because Defendants published the Article after President Trump spoke directly with Murdoch and advised him that the letter referenced in the Article was fake, Murdoch’s direct involvement further underscores Defendants’ actual malice and intent behind the decision to publish the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements about President Trump identified in the Complaint.”
Trump’s team asserts that he personally communicated with Murdoch regarding the article’s contents. Finally, plaintiffs allege that Murdoch accepted this forbidden communication by informing Trump that “he would take care of it.” This claim underlines how the public would reasonably expect Murdoch to be fact-checking the misinformation prior to going to print.
Legal documents filed by Trump’s lawyers outlined concerns regarding Murdoch’s age and health. The 94-year-old retails and commentariat star explained that at his age he’d experienced many health challenges and, more recently, a series of serious health emergencies. They contend that such factors would complicate Murdoch’s capacity to testify in person if this case were to go to trial. “Taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial,” the motion stated.
The filing highlighted a lopsidedness in the access to information between Trump and Murdoch. It stated, “Murdoch has an advantage over President Trump as Murdoch is able to defend himself because he has access to all the information and documents related to the below-defined malicious and defamatory Article.” In contrast, Trump’s team asserted that “President Trump has very limited information related to the Article.”
Trump’s defense attorneys have pointed out their obvious goal to collect a broad swath of digital communications related to the story. They’ve requested evidentiary proof in a wide range of electronic correspondence. This includes text, iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, Signal, WeChat and other similar mobile communications that Murdoch has sent/received related to the Article.
The motion indicates that Trump’s legal team believes these communications will provide critical insight into Murdoch’s decision-making process regarding the publication of the article. Alternatively, Intervenor-Defendant Murdoch claims that granting plaintiff’s motion would work prejudice against him in an unfair manner. Not only would it bring justice, but it would do so by making clear the allegations against Trump.