Trump and Murdoch agree to pause in battle over Epstein article
Court filings released on Tuesday say the two parties reached an agreement to hold off on Murdoch's deposition until after The Wall Street Journal' s motion to dismiss the case has been heard.
Trump had initially sought Murdoch's deposition to be expedited, citing the 94-year-old's age and health, which some media outlets have labelled a stunt.
The parties have also agreed not to engage in discovery in the meantime, filings released by the Florida Court said.
The agreement was reached on Monday evening according to US media outlet Politico. The likely outcome is that Murdoch, also facing a resumption of his own family legal battle in Nevada this year, will not appear in court for at least several months, and would only need to if the Journal 's motion to dismiss the case fails.
The filing also said Murdoch would appear in a mutually agreed location, in person, within 30 days, should the motion fail, and that he has agreed to provide 'regularly scheduled updates to the Plaintiff [Trump] regarding his health', including a mechanism for him to alert the president if there is a material change in his health.
Loading
Trump brought the $US10 billion ($15 billion) suit last month after The Journal published a story reporting that he had signed a letter to Epstein, the disgraced Wall Street financier for his 50th birthday, which included a drawing of a naked woman with his signature attached.
The president named Murdoch, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson and the two reporters responsible for the article as defendants. The company intends to defend the reporting.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
23 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Brazil's Bolsonaro appeals house arrest order
Lawyers for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro have appealed a house arrest order imposed against him. Bolsonaro was placed under house arrest on Monday after an order was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes against him. Moraes' decision cited a failure to comply with restraining orders he had imposed on Bolsonaro for allegedly courting US President Donald Trump's interference in the case. Bolsonaro's lawyers had already said that they would appeal the decision to place him under house arrest. In a document seen by Reuters, the lawyers said Bolsonaro did not breach the restraining orders. They also asked for the house arrest order to be voted on by a wider panel of Supreme Court justices. Bolsonaro is on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election. The case has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administration. The trial is receiving renewed attention after Trump directly tied a 50 per cent tariff on imported Brazilian goods to the judicial situation of Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. The US leader has called the proceedings a "witch hunt". Prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organisation that plotted to overturn the election, including plans to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes. The top court in July ordered Bolsonaro wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities while the proceedings were under way.
Perth Now
23 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Asian stocks climb, dollar droops on Fed easing bets
Asian equities have risen, with Japanese shares hitting a record high, as tech-led gains on Wall Street, upbeat earnings and growing expectations for US rate cuts boosted sentiment. The prospect of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine also underpinned sentiment, benefiting the euro, while weighing on oil prices as traders gauged the outlook for sanctions on Moscow. Sterling held its ground at a one-week high going into the Bank of England's policy announcement later in the day, with a quarter-point cut widely expected, and the focus falling on a possible three-way split within the board. At the same time, markets largely shook off Trump's latest tariff threats, including an additional 25 per cent tariff on India over purchases of Russian oil and a threatened 100 per cent duty on chips. Japan's broad Topix index rose 0.9 per cent on Thursday to reach an all-time high, with the more tech-focused Nikkei also gaining by about the same margin. Taiwan's stock benchmark surged 2.3 per cent to a more than one-year peak. South Korea's KOSPI added 0.6 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent, and mainland Chinese blue chips advanced 0.3 per cent. Australian shares edged slightly lower after hitting a record high on Wednesday. US stock futures were buoyant, with those for the S&P 500 up 0.3 per cent and those for the Nasdaq also rising 0.3 per cent. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2 per cent. "Wall Street seems to have gotten its mojo back," analyst Kyle Rodda wrote in a note. "However, there are persistent risks to the downside. Downside surprises in official data are increasing," he said. "Valuations are also stretched, with forward price to earnings hovering around the highest in four years. And trade uncertainty persists." The US dollar remained lower against major peers on Thursday, with expectations of easier policy from the Federal Reserve stoked both by some disappointing macroeconomic indicators - not least Friday's payrolls report - and Trump's move to install new picks on the Fed board that are likely to share the US President's dovish views on monetary policy. Focus is centred on Trump's nomination to fill a coming vacancy on the Fed's board of governors and candidates for the next chair of the central bank, with current Chair Jerome Powell's tenure due to end in May. The dollar index, which gauges the currency against the euro, sterling and four other counterparts, gained slightly to 98.245, after dropping 0.6 per cent on Wednesday. The euro was little changed at $1.1657, following the previous session's 0.7 per cent jump. Sterling was steady at $1.3356. The BoE looks poised to cut interest rates for the fifth time in 12 months later on Thursday, but nagging worries about inflation are likely to split its policymakers and cloud the outlook for its next moves. Two Monetary Policy Committee members may push for a half-point rate cut, and two may lobby for no change. The dollar added 0.1 per cent to 147.53 yen. Gold gained 0.4 per cent to around $3,382 per ounce, buoyed by the weaker dollar. Crude oil clawed back some losses from Wednesday, when both Brent and West Texas Intermediate slid about 1 per cent. Brent crude futures were last up 20 cents, or 0.3 per cent, at $67.09 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 22 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $64.57 a barrel.
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The door is open for Trump to create more chaos
Trump has said he is considering four contenders for the position of the Fed's chair, which will open up in May next year when the term of the current chair, Jerome Powell, who Trump detests and attacks relentlessly and viciously, will end. Hassett, current governor Christopher Waller and former governor Kevin Warsh are thought to be on his short list. He is weighing up whether to announce a short-term appointment – someone who would fill the position until the term expires on January 31 next year – or appointing a 'chair elect' who will succeed Powell when his term as chair ends next May. It's a pivotal decision because the Kugler position might be the only opportunity he has to inject a loyalist into the Fed boardroom during this term. Powell's chairmanship might end in May but, should he choose to remain on the board, his term as a governor runs until 2028. There are no other scheduled retirements during the Trump presidency. There are reports that Trump's advisers (which include unusual names, like Fox's Sean Hannity and MAGA heavyweight Steve Bannon) are urging him to appoint someone who will occupy the seat only until January, giving him more time to decide on Powell's replacement. Trump could appoint someone designated as Powell's successor, hoping that a 'shadow' chair would undermine Powell and Powell's messaging both within and outside the Fed's boardroom. The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (who has withdrawn himself from contention for the role), mooted exactly that strategy ahead of last year's US election. Whether the appointment is short term or unveils Powell's successor, however, the new governor would be one of only two Trump-appointed members on the seven-member board and the 12-member Federal Open Market Committee that actually decides US monetary policies. The other is the Fed's deputy chair, Michelle Bowman. Loading While Trump has made it very clear what he wants from the next Fed chair, it is less obvious what qualifications, other than loyalty, Trump wants from the incoming BLS commissioner. The blueprint for this administration – 'Project 2025' – recommended appointing political appointees to the Labor department, within which the BLS sits, and consolidating the BLS with other data collecting agencies into a 'more manageable' mega statistical agency. The BLS could do with a (non-political) overhaul. It has a challenge with its current data surveys because, post-COVID, the response rates from businesses have dropped significantly. That's part of the explanation for why its revisions of June quarter data, which showed a major fall in jobs generation, were so large. Even as it has become harder for the bureau to collect accurate data, it has experienced a reduction in its resources in recent years that is being compounded by job losses and an 8 per cent cut to next year's budget because of Trump's assault on the US bureaucracy. If its data is to be made more reliable and credible, it needs more, not fewer, resources and someone – like Kugler – who is non-partisan and clearly qualified as its head. If Trump appoints a loyalist, it would cast a shadow over the accuracy of data central to the markets and businesses' understanding of economic conditions and probably lead to an increase in risk premia in US interest rates. The ironic aspect of Trump's response to the weak employment data is that it actually strengthens the case for a rate cut. The Fed has a dual mandate, charged with maximising employment and price stability. It has kept rates on hold while it waits to see the effects of Trump's trade policies on an inflation rate that, at 2.7 per cent, is already above its target of 2 per cent. The two appointments to critical economic agencies have the potential to undermine the credibility of the Feds's policy decisions and the BLS's data if financial market participants and businesses suspect that the Fed's decisions and the BLS' data have been tainted by political influences. The inflation rate has been edging up even before the full effects of Trump's tariffs have had time to reveal themselves, but the economy has slowed markedly and the BLS data shows the unemployment rate is edging up even as the job market shrinks and salaries stagnate. Where, before that data, the odds were against a rate cut at the Fed's meeting next month, they – and an increasing number of Fed governors – now favour a rate cut. Instead of accusing (without any evidence) the BLS of manipulating its date to make his economic management look bad, Trump should have seized on it to proclaim that he was right, and the Fed wrong, on the need for a rate cut. Trump can probably cause conflicts and dysfunction within the Fed and the BLS if that is his objective with the appointments he makes. Whether that achieves his broader ambitions, however, is another matter. Even if he could stack the Fed board with loyalists, which he can't, or intimidate the majority of the Open Market Committee, which is unlikely, the Fed can only influence US short term rates. The federal funds rate anchors the bond market's yield curve, but longer term rates are set by the market itself. If investors thought the Fed's decision-making had been politicised, they would demand higher yields to compensate for the increased risk of inflation and increase the premium required for holding longer-term bonds. The yield curve would steepen, and it is those yields at the longer end of the curve that determine the rates on mortgage and car loans and business' interest costs. Loading It is the Fed's credibility as an independent, apolitical agency that will contain inflation that gives it a broader influence over the curve than just the federal funds rate. Similarly, if the BLS data is regarded as tainted and unreliable, it will inject uncertainty and caution into businesses' decision-making and probably lead to less employment and investment.
