U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after signing the “GENIUS Act” into regulation throughout a ceremony within the East Room of the White Home July 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Photos
President Donald Trump on Friday adopted by on his menace to sue media mogul Rupert Murdoch after his Wall Avenue Journal printed an article saying that Trump despatched his then-friend Jeffrey Epstein a “bawdy” letter for Epstein’s fiftieth birthday.
Trump, who angrily denies writing the letter, is in search of damages of a minimum of $10 billion within the lawsuit alleging defamation.
Named as defendants within the swimsuit in federal court docket within the Southern District of Florida are Murdoch, his firm Information Corp and its CEO Robert Thomson, the Journal’s writer, Dow Jones & Co., and the 2 reporters who wrote the article printed Thursday night.
A Dow Jones spokesperson despatched the next assertion to CNBC: “We’ve full confidence within the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and can vigorously defend towards any lawsuit.”
The swimsuit comes as Trump faces rising strain to have the Justice Division launch its investigative information about Epstein, who killed himself in August 2019 after being arrested on federal baby intercourse trafficking fees.
The Journal’s article stated that the letter purportedly written by Trump to Epstein in 2003 was amongst paperwork reviewed by felony investigators who in the end constructed felony circumstances towards Epstein and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, who reportedly solicited the letter from the president.
“We’ve simply filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit towards everybody concerned in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS “article” within the ineffective “rag” that’s, The Wall Avenue Journal,” Trump wrote in a Fact Social put up on Friday.
Former Government Chairman of Fox Corp Rupert Murdoch listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on February 03, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Photos
The swimsuit says that, “Defendants Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo co-authored and printed an article largely targeted on President Trump that falsely claimed that he authored, drew, and signed a card to want the late — and totally disgraced — Jeffrey Epstein a cheerful fiftieth birthday.”
“To aim and inextricably hyperlink President Trump to Epstein, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo falsely declare that the salacious language of the letter is contained inside a hand-drawn bare lady, which was created with a heavy marker,” the swimsuit alleges.
“Worse, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo falsely symbolize as incontrovertible fact that President Trump drew the bare lady’s breasts and signed his title ‘Donald’ under her waist, ‘mimicking pubic hair.’ “
“Regardless of the obvious failures in journalistic ethics and requirements of correct reporting, Defendants Dow Jones and Information Corp — on the course of Defendants Murdoch and Thomson — printed to the world the false, defamatory, and malignant statements authored by” the reporters, the swimsuit says.
Trump earlier Friday posted on Fact Social concerning the accusation, saying, “I stay up for getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit towards him and his ‘pile of rubbish’ newspaper, the WSJ. That shall be an attention-grabbing expertise!!!”
