Trump says in defamation lawsuit Murdoch told him he would ‘handle’ WSJ story on Epstein ties

In a refiled $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall ⁠Street Journal, Donald Trump says that Rupert Murdoch told him he would “handle” a story about Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein after the U.S. President called him to complain.

The lawsuit is one ‌of several Mr. Trump has brought in his personal capacity against news organisations, part of what critics say is a wider pressure campaign against ‌the media. Last month, a judge dismissed an earlier version of the ‌lawsuit ⁠over legal deficiencies but allowed Mr. Trump to revise and refile.

Mr. Trump’s lawsuit ⁠says the Journal tarnished his reputation with an article describing a birthday card to deceased sex offender Epstein as bearing Mr. Trump’s signature. Mr. Trump and his lawyers said the card is fake. Lawmakers investigating Epstein’s case later released a copy ‌provided by his estate.

According to the amended lawsuit, Mr. Trump called Mr. Murdoch on July 15 after Journal reporters contacted the White House about the story.

“In response, Murdoch stated, ‘I will handle it,’ which President Trump reasonably interpreted as meaning that ‌Murdoch believed President Trump, and that the article would not be published,” the lawsuit says.

Representatives of Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent company and a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request ⁠for comment on the filing or on the allegation regarding Mr. Murdoch. Dow Jones, which is owned by News Corp, has previously said it has full confidence in the ‌Journal’s reporting and will defend itself in court. Mr. Murdoch is chairman emeritus of News Corp. Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 in what the city’s chief medical examiner determined was a suicide.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, names Mr. Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its CEO, Robert Thomson, along with two Wall Street Journal reporters as ‌defendants, saying they defamed Mr. Trump and caused him to suffer “overwhelming” financial and reputational harm.

In throwing out Mr. Trump’s first lawsuit in April, U.S. District Court Judge Darrin P. Gayles, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said Mr. Trump had not ⁠met the “actual malice” legal standard for public figures in defamation cases, which requires evidence that ⁠a defendant published a statement that they knew or should have known was false.

Mr. Trump has also filed defamation and other lawsuits against other media ‌organisations, including the New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Iowa’s Des Moines Register. Those outlets have denied wrongdoing and are fighting the cases in court.