Donald Trump Files Suit Against Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones Over Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Epstein Story
A defamation lawsuit (read it here) was filed in a Florida federal court Friday seeing damages 'not less than $10 billion' and a jury trial. It names Murdoch, Journal publisher Dow Jones, parent company News Corp and its CEO Robert Thomson and the reporters on the story, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.
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Trump confirmed the filing in a Truth Social post tonight, writing in part, 'This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media.'
He added, '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.'
The WSJ story published yesterday included Trump's denials that he ever wrote the letter, as well as his legal threat.
Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones did not immediately return a request for comment on the suit, but a spokesperson said Thursday, 'The story speaks for itself.'
The WSJ report centered on a birthday album that was given to Epstein in 2003, featured collected letters from some of his friends. Among the letters was one bearing Trump's name that 'contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker,' the Journal reported, adding that a 'pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts, and the future president's signature is a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.'
Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier on Friday, 'I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!'
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