U.S. President Donald Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch on Friday, seeking at least $10 billion in damages over the newspaper’s report that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.
Trump filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Florida against Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal reporters, accusing the defendants of defamation and saying they acted with malicious intent that caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.
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Trump has vehemently denied the Journal report, which Reuters has not verified, and warned Murdoch, the founder of News Corp, that he planned to sue. Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp.
“I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning. Representatives of Dow Jones, News Corp and Murdoch could not be reached for comment.
Disgraced financier and sex offender Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019.
The case has generated conspiracy theories that became popular among Trump’s base of supporters who believed the government was covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful. Some of Trump’s most loyal followers became furious after his administration reversed course on its promise to release files related to the Epstein investigation.
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A Justice Department memo released on July 7 concluded that Epstein killed himself and said there was “no incriminating client list” or evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people.
Attorney General Pam Bondi had pledged months earlier to reveal major revelations about Epstein, including “a lot of names” and “a lot of flight logs.”
With pressure to release the Epstein files building, Trump on Thursday said he directed Bondi to ask a court to release grand jury testimony about Epstein. The U.S. government on Friday filed a motion in Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and his former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who in 2021 was convicted of five federal charges related to her role in Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls. She is serving a 20-year sentence.