Trump and Murdoch cut deal not to expedite deposition in Wall Street Journal lawsuit – Washington Examiner
President Donald Trump has reached an agreement with media mogul Rupert Murdoch to delay Murdoch’s deposition in a $20 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. Trump sued the publication over a story linking him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which Trump denies. The agreement postpones Murdoch’s deposition amid concerns about his health and age (94). As part of the deal, Murdoch will regularly update the court and trump’s legal team on his health status. The lawsuit names the Wall street journal, News Corporation, murdoch, and other executives and journalists as defendants. If a motion to dismiss the case is denied, Murdoch will be deposed within 30 days. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Trump and Murdoch cut deal not to expedite deposition in Wall Street Journal lawsuit
President Donald Trump reached an agreement Monday with News Corporation magnate Rupert Murdoch to postpone Murdoch’s deposition in the $20 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. Trump sued the outlet over its viral story about his connections with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The filing of the agreement between the two parties comes after Trump’s lawyers requested last week that the court order an expedited deposition of Murdoch within 15 days. In the July 28 order, the President’s counsel noted several factors they believed would make it difficult for the 94-year-old mogul to testify in person at a trial. Trump’s counsel cited that Murdoch “has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent health scares, and is presumed to live in New York, New York.”
Monday’s joint stipulation details that, as part of the deal not to expedite the deposition, within three calendar days of when the court approves the filing, Murdoch will provide the court with an update on his current health condition. Murdoch also agreed to “provide regularly scheduled updates to the Plaintiff regarding his health, including a mechanism for him to alert the Plaintiff if there is a material change in his health.”
Trump filed the lawsuit on July 18 after the Wall Street Journal published a story alleging that Trump sent Epstein a lewd birthday message. The president has repeatedly denied writing it.
“This is not me. This is a fake thing,” Trump said in an interview for the story. “It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story.”
The outlet reported that the letter to Epstein includes “several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.”
“I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” Trump said in response to the piece. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”
Trump’s defamation lawsuit over the article names the Wall Street Journal, News Corporation, Murdoch, Robert Thomson, the CEO and director of News Corporation, and Wall Street Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo as defendants in the case. The case, assigned to Obama-appointed Judge Darrin Phillip Gayles, is in the U.S. Court of the Southern District of Florida.
HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS CLINTONS FOR DEPOSITIONS AND DOJ EPSTEIN FILES
If the defendants file a motion to dismiss the complaint and the court subsequently denies that motion, Murdoch will be deposed within 30 calendar days, according to the filing. The defendants have until Sept. 22 to file a motion responding to Trump’s complaint.
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