Donald Trump claims Murdoch promised to kill Epstein birthday card story

Donald Trump is back in court, trying once more to force the Wall Street Journal to pay $US10 billion—in our money, that's roughly $14 billion—for what he calls a reputation-ruining birthday card scandal. The US President has revived a lawsuit, despite a judge giving his first attempt the flick only last month. He’s claiming Rupert Murdoch, the man who built the News Corp empire, personally intervened after Trump called him up on July 15, saying 'I will handle it,' which President Trump reasonably interpreted as a guarantee that the article wouldn't be published.

According to court papers filed in Miami, the President took that promise as a guarantee that the story would never see the light of day. The original article in question suggested a birthday card sent to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein actually carried the President's signature. Trump has maintained all along that the card is a complete forgery, though the legal battle hits a massive wall regarding what reporters actually knew at the time of publication. The article claimed the card was authentic, which Trump denies.

Judge Darrin P. Gayles, who was appointed by Barack Obama back in the day, isn't making it easy. He tossed the first round of this suit because Trump’s legal team failed to clear the high bar of 'actual malice.' In the US, for a public figure like a president to win a defamation case, you can't just prove the story was wrong—you have to prove the writers published it knowing it was false, or with a reckless disregard for the truth. This is a notoriously difficult standard to meet, even if you’ve got billions to burn on lawyers.

Rupert Murdoch, who originally hails from Adelaide, isn't just a bystander here. He's named alongside the Wall Street Journal's parent company, Dow Jones, and CEO Robert Thomson. The suit also takes aim at two specific reporters who were digging into the Epstein connection. Epstein himself, of course, was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019, with the city's chief medical examiner ruling it a suicide. The mystery surrounding his social circles continues to haunt the highest levels of American power, making any story linking the President to him a massive headache for the White House.

This isn't an isolated incident, either. Since settling into his second term, the President has been busy picking fights with the media. He's currently embroiled in legal stoushes with the New York Times, the BBC, and even the Des Moines Register. Critics reckon it's all part of a calculated pressure campaign to keep these organisations in check. Whether this is about protecting his reputation or just plain old vengeance, the legal costs alone for all parties involved are astronomical.

Dow Jones has made it clear they aren't backing down; they have full confidence in the reporting of their staff and intend to defend the suit vigorously in court. They've released a statement saying they're committed to defending the Wall Street Journal against the lawsuit, and they're confident their reporting was fair and accurate. It's a classic David vs. Goliath setup, except in this version, both sides seem to have enough cash to drag this out for years. For the average reader, it’s a bizarre spectacle of media power and presidential ego clashing in a Miami courtroom.