Washington DC [US], July 29 : US President Donald Trump's lawyers are seeking to depose Rupert Murdoch, the 94-year-old media mogul founder of News Corp, within 15 days as part of Trump's $10 billion libel lawsuit against Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times reported.
The lawsuit stems from a July 17 article alleging Trump wrote a sexually suggestive birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, which Trump denies.
Trump's lawyers cite Murdoch's advanced age and health issues, including a 2023 incident where he fainted during a breakfast meeting, as reasons for the expedited deposition, reported The New York Times.
In a filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Trump's lawyers said Murdoch, should be deposed as soon as possible because he is 94 years old and "has suffered, but thankfully overcome, multiple health issues throughout his life" and would be unlikely to be able to appear in person at a trial.
"President Trump is requesting only to conduct Murdoch's deposition and have him produce documents associated only with his involvement in, and any discussions related to, the decision to publish the article," the filing said.
Trump sued The Wall Street Journal on July 18, a day after the newspaper published an article about a bawdy birthday note that the publication said Trump wrote to Epstein in 2003, five years before the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor. The note was accompanied by a sexually suggestive drawing. Trump has denied he was responsible for the letter or the drawing, calling it a "fake thing," as per New York Times.
The request from Trump's lawyers on Monday cited an episode in 2023 when Murdoch fainted during a breakfast in London with one of his executives, Rebekah Brooks. It also noted an article from Vanity Fair that said Murdoch had been hospitalised in recent years for Covid-19 and "a broken back, seizures, two bouts of pneumonia, atrial fibrillation and a torn Achilles tendon."
Trump is suing Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp, and two Wall Street Journal reporters over the article, which he claims is defamatory.
The motion also said Murdoch, as the director and majority owner of News Corp, "sits in the unique position of having readily available all documents, communications, and other information related to the article and the decision to publish it," as per The New York Times.
The lawyers added that Murdoch had "an advantage" over Trump because he had access to information about the published article, while Trump "has very limited information."
A representative for Murdoch did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. A spokeswoman for Dow Jones, the publisher of The Journal, previously said in a statement: "We have full confidence in the rigour and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit."
Along with Murdoch, Trump sued Dow Jones; News Corp, the parent company of Dow Jones; Robert Thomson, the chief executive of News Corp; and the two reporters who wrote the article.
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