{"id":81530,"date":"2025-07-22T14:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/?p=81530"},"modified":"2025-07-22T14:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:46:11","slug":"donald-trump-sues-rupert-murdoch-and-the-wall-street-journal-over-epstein-birthday-note-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/donald-trump-sues-rupert-murdoch-and-the-wall-street-journal-over-epstein-birthday-note-story\/81530\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump sues Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday note story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former President Donald Trump has launched a $20 billion lawsuit against media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, News Corp., and The Wall Street Journal<\/em> over a recent article that alleged Trump once wrote a provocative birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein. The lawsuit also targets Dow Jones & Co., which publishes the Journal<\/em>, as well as two of the newspaper\u2019s reporters, claiming defamation and journalistic misconduct.<\/p>\n

The article in question described what it called a \u201cbawdy\u201d birthday message Trump allegedly sent to Epstein, the financier who was convicted of sex crimes and had ties to several high-profile individuals before his controversial death in 2019. Trump\u2019s legal team has labelled the letter a complete fabrication and accuses The Wall Street Journal<\/em> of spreading false and damaging information without proper evidence or verification.<\/p>\n

Trump did not hold back in addressing the matter publicly. On his Truth Social platform, he wrote: \u201cI look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his \u2018pile of garbage\u2019 newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!\u201d<\/em> The post reflects Trump\u2019s combative stance toward media organisations he believes have treated him unfairly, a dynamic that has defined much of his political career.<\/p>\n

In a separate move that underscores the seriousness of the dispute, the White House reportedly removed The Wall Street Journal<\/em> from its press pool for an upcoming trip to Scotland. While the administration has not officially linked the decision to the lawsuit, the timing suggests a broader effort by Trump to penalise the outlet through both legal and political pressure.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this lawsuit follows a pattern of recent media settlements involving Trump. In the past year, several major companies, including Disney and Paramount, opted to resolve disputes with Trump quietly. Disney paid $15 million to end a conflict involving ABC News, and Paramount settled for $16 million in a case connected to CBS News. Legal experts have noted that in some instances, these companies may have had strong legal defenses but chose to avoid lengthy litigation and bad press.<\/p>\n

Despite the lawsuit, The Wall Street Journal<\/em> and its parent company, Dow Jones, are standing firm. In a brief statement, a spokesperson said the publication stands by its reporting and intends to vigorously defend itself in court. They emphasised that the Journal\u2019s<\/em> editorial standards are strong and that the story met their typical threshold of accuracy and credibility.<\/p>\n

Under Murdoch\u2019s ownership, The Wall Street Journal<\/em> has maintained a reputation for straight news coverage and serious financial reporting, even while some of his other media outlets, like Fox News and the New York Post,<\/em>\u00a0have openly supported Trump\u2019s political agenda. However, the relationship between Trump and Murdoch\u2019s media empire has grown more strained in recent years. After the January 6 Capitol riots, several of Murdoch\u2019s outlets distanced themselves from Trump. The New York Post<\/em> editorial board criticised his actions, and Murdoch himself reportedly expressed concerns in internal conversations with Fox News executives.<\/p>\n

Now, with Trump escalating his legal fight against The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, the long-running friction between the former president and Murdoch\u2019s media conglomerate has reached new intensity. As the case unfolds, it could test the boundaries of press freedom, political power, and the complex relationship between a former president and one of the most influential media empires in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former President Donald Trump has launched a $20 billion lawsuit against media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, News Corp., and The Wall\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":81531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168],"class_list":["post-81530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-donald-trump"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}