Titular
President Donald Trump on Monday asked a judge from Florida to order the founder of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, immediately testify in the case of the president’s current defamation on the reports of the reports of the Wall Street Journal On Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, citing the advanced age of the 94 -year billionaire to justify that the court obtains its testimony within the next two weeks.
Key data
Trump filed a motion before a federal court requesting an “early statement” of Murdoch, citing the age of the 94 -year -old businessman, recent health problems and his residence in New York City, which, according to Trump, could make his testimony difficult in a trial in Florida if the case advances.
Trump has sued Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal For an article published on July 17 that alleges that the president sent a letter “upload” to Epstein for his 50th birthday, which included a drawing of a naked woman and a Trump message to the financial deceased: “Happy birthday – and that every day is another wonderful secret.”
The president has strongly denied having written this letter and has shown special discontent with Murdoch, claiming that the Journal He published the article after Trump personally contacted the media tycoon to tell him that the report was false.
According to the judicial file on Monday, Murdoch supposedly “assured President Trump that ‘he would be in charge of the matter'” after being contacted by Trump about the report of the report Journalbut the article was published anyway, after Murdoch supposedly “discussed the convenience of publishing the article” with other members of the Journal And, as reported, he will participate in the way the note was presented.
Trump requested that the statement be carried out in the next 15 days, but Judge Darrin P. Gayles only requested that Murdoch responds to Trump’s request before August 4, which suggests that any statement will not be carried out at least at least until a week.
News Corp has not yet responded to the request for comments.
What to observe
Although Murdoch’s statement could be done soon, much additional movement is not expected in the case of the Journal During the next two months, since the court has asked the defendants to respond to Trump’s demand before September 22. Legal experts have shown generalized skepticism regarding the defamation arguments presented by Trump, but it is still to be seen if the case will go to trial or if a judge could dismiss him before. If the demand is not discarded, then Trump and other people involved could also be cited to testify, and legal experts have warned that the test collection phase could become against Trump by revealing information about their relationship with Epstein.
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Cita Crucial
“Because the defendants published the article after President Trump spoke directly with Murdoch and informed him that the letter mentioned in the article was false, the direct participation of Murdoch stresses even more real malice and the intention of the defendants by deciding to publish the false, defamatory, derogatory and incendiary statements on President Trump identified in the claim,” Trump alleged the judicial letter on Monday.
Forbes assessment
Both Trump and Murdoch are billionaires, and Forbes estimates their net assets at 5.3 billion dollars and 24,000 million dollars, respectively, until Monday afternoon.
What is Trump’s relationship with Rupert Murdoch?
Trump and Murdoch, who also controls Fox News – known for their affinity with Trump – have had an ambiguous relationship over the years. Murdoch was skeptical at the beginning regarding Trump’s first presidential candidacy, he points out The New York Timesbut both filed a friendly relationship during the president’s first mandate, to the point of talking frequently by phone while Fox’s personalities praised Trump and his agenda.
However, Trump distanced himself from Murdoch during the 2020 elections, blaming him for not preventing Fox News from quickly declareding Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona. Subsequently, Fox was criticized for trying to appease Trump by disseminating false statements about electoral fraud – which resulted in an agreement of 787.5 million dollars for defamation – and, according to The Timesboth stopped talking “for a long period.”
After initially supporting the failed presidential candidacy of the governor of Florida, Ron Desantis, Fox News and Murdoch have now firmly support Trump and his agenda. Murdoch even appeared in Trump’s second investiture and in the Oval Office with the president in February. However, the reports of the Journal On Trump’s relationship with Epstein they seem to have deteriorated the relationship again, and sources cited by The Times They claim that Trump’s anger by the article is “directed exclusively” to Murdoch and the Journal for continuing with the story after the president’s contact with the media tycoon.
He Journal He has continued informing about the relationship between Trump and Epstein despite the demand for defamation, and Murdoch, as reported, has remained challenging in front of the president, with The Washington Post Reporting that the tycoon said about Trump’s demand: “I am 94 years old and I will not be intimidated.”
Key history
The report of Journal On the relationship between Trump and Epstein, and the subsequent defend The financial.
While Trump administration officials promised for years to publish the government archives on Epstein, the July memorandum of the Department of Justice announcing that no more documents will be disseminated has revived the scrutiny around the Epstein case and Trump’s relationship with him. He Journal He informed that Trump was personally notified that his name appears in the government archives on Epstein, although there are still no indications that these documents contain evidence of undue behaviors.
Trump has tried to minimize and distance himself from the Epstein case in the midst of the controversy, affirming on Monday that it is “a farce that has been greatly exaggerated.” The president also assured that he rejected an invitation to go to Epstein’s private island, while sowing suspicions about other high profile figures that had links with the financial.
This article was originally published by Forbes Us.
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