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Did JD Vance secretly meet Rupert Murdoch before WSJ bombshell on Trump's letter to Epstein?
US Vice President JD Vance with his wife Usha Vance. AP
Did JD Vance secretly meet Rupert Murdoch before the Wall Street Journal dropped its bombshell story?
That's the scuttlebutt inside Washington DC.
The Journal last week published a salacious story about Trump and Epstein, alleging that a 2003 album created for the disgraced, late sex offender by Ghislaine Maxwell featured the US president's name and a drawing by him.
The development came as Trump faced mounting outrage from his Make America Great Again (Maga) base over Epstein, who his administration maintained had no 'client list'.
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Epstein died in jail during the first Trump administration.
While authorities have said he committed suicide, many claim he was murdered.
Trump has claimed that the note, which spoke of 'wonderful secrets' is fake.
Trump is alleged to have had long-standing ties to Epstein. In 2002, he in a high-profile piece covering Epstein referred to him as a 'terrific guy' who he had 'known for years.'.
But what do we know about this meeting between Vance and Murdoch? What was on the agenda? Does Trump need to watch his back?
What we know
Vance and his wife Usha flew to Montana on Tuesday, a day before the Journal published its sensational piece about his boss.
Vance and Usha made the trip on Air Force Two – the Vice-President's official plane.
Their plane touched down in Butte near the Murdoch family ranch in Montana.
Butte is around 110 kilometres from the ranch.
Murdoch bought the ranch from the Koch brothers, another famous billionaire family, in 2021.
He is said to have paid around $280 million for the property.
It is spread across two valleys and a mountain range and has around 12,000 cattle.
It is near Yellowstone National Park along the Montana-Idaho border.
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Vance met Murdoch, who stepped down from the post of CEO of Fox News and News Corp in 2023, as well as his son and successor Lachlan.
A number of Fox executives were also present at the meeting.
The meeting is said to have been brief.
What was said in the meeting remains top secret.
Rupert Murdoch and his son and successor Lachlan Murdoch.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the vice president's aircraft was only on the ground for just a few hours.
Vance and Usha are thought to have taken a short hike during their trip to Montana.
They were accompanied by Montana State Auditor James Brown, who reportedly helped plan the visit.
Brown said he met the vice president when Vance landed at the airport and then helped escort Vance's entourage on an hourlong drive by driving second lady Usha Vance's staff.
Does Trump need to watch his back?
It all depends.
Is Vance angling to get the top job himself?
Did the Murdochs let Vance know what was coming and prepare him for any potential fallout?
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While some might consider this far-fetched, they may do well to remember that Trump was not keen on picking Vance as his vice-president.
He was thought to favour North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for the position.
However, billionaire Peter Thiel and other big Trump backers are thought to have pushed for Vance – with whom he has had a long relationship – to get the position.
Some even speculated that many Trump backers were trying to position Vance as the successor to Trump.
However, it must be noted that Vance has thus far remained loyal to Trump.
He earlier at least somewhat reconciled Musk and Trump.
The prior relationship between Murdoch and Trump is also instructive.
Unlike Musk, Murdoch is also a lifelong conservative.
In fact, Murdoch even attended Trump's inauguration earlier this year. He even visited him in the Oval Office.
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So is his son Lachlan, who is said to be even more strident about politics than his father.
They have both been long-time backers of the Republican Party and conservative causes.
It must also be pointed out that Vance is also the chief of the Republican National Committee's finance chair.
He is basically the man who is spearheading fundraising for his party's midterms in 2026.
So Vance could have simply been soliciting money from the Murdochs – who could theoretically donate unlimited amounts to his party thanks to the US Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling – or getting their ideological ducks in a row.
The Trump lawsuit
Trump's lawsuit filed in Miami federal court names Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its Chief Executive Robert Thomson, and two Wall Street Journal reporters as defendants, saying they defamed Trump and caused him to suffer 'overwhelming' financial and reputational harm.
Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp.
'We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS 'article' in the useless 'rag' that is, The Wall Street Journal,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Donald Trump has announced a $10 billion dollar lawsuit against the Murdochs and the Wall Street Journal.
'I hope Rupert and his 'friends' are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,' Trump added.
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A spokesperson for Dow Jones said in a statement: 'We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.'
The lawsuit called Trump's alleged birthday greeting "fake," and said the Journal published its article to harm Trump's reputation.
'Tellingly, the Article does not explain whether Defendants have obtained a copy of the letter, have seen it, have had it described to them, or any other circumstances that would otherwise lend credibility to the Article,' the lawsuit said.
To prevail on his defamation claims, Trump must show the defendants acted with 'actual malice,' meaning they knew the article was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth.
A $10 billion award would far exceed the largest defamation judgments and settlements in recent history.
These include a $1.5 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Fox News' settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.
'Ten billion dollars is a ridiculously high number,' said Jesse Gessin, a lawyer with experience in defamation and First Amendment litigation. 'It would be the largest defamation verdict in US history.'
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Trump has taken aim at the WSJ in recent weeks calling it a 'rotten newspaper', a 'rag' and claiming that it has 'gone to hell'.
The Journal, unlike Fox News, has been extremely critical of Trump's second administration particularly on tariffs.
With inputs from agencies
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