As promised, President Trump filed a lawsuit on Friday against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal over the newspaper's reporting on ties between Trump and disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, seeks at least $10 billion in damages, per the AP. On Thursday, the Journal published a story describing a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump's name and was included in a 2003 album for Epstein's 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter, calling the report "false, malicious, and defamatory."
The letter was reportedly collected by disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell years before the wealthy financier was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently had a falling-out with Trump. The Journal describes the contents of the letter but didn't publish a photo showing it entirely or provide details on how it came to learn about it. On Friday, Trump posted on his Truth Social site: "This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media."
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the Journal's publisher, responded, "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit." Both ABC and CBS have previously reached multimillion-dollar settlement deals with the president after he took them to court. Earlier Friday, the Justice Department asked a federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in Epstein's case amid heightened public interest in his connection to Trump and other leaders, and as controversy continues to surround the Trump administration's handling of records related to Epstein. Trump in recent days has called his own supporters "weaklings" for vying for more records from the Epstein probe.
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