The president is suing Murdoch, 94, who owns The Wall Street Journal, over the newspaper’s July 17 story that included the contents of a racy birthday message the paper said Trump sent to the disgraced financier in 2003. The story’s reporters are also included in the $10 billion lawsuit.
On Monday, Trump’s lawyers filed a motion to the U.S. district court in southern Florida requesting for Murdoch to give evidence within 15 days.
“Murdoch is 94 years old, has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares, and is presumed to live in New York, New York,” the motion states. “Taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial.”
Reuters reported that U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ordered Murdoch to respond by Aug. 4.
A spokesman for Murdoch’s News Corp, which owns the Journal, did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
According to Trump’s motion, Murdoch’s lawyer indicated in a telephone conversation that the newspaper magnate would oppose the move.
In the latest court filing, Trump’s lawyers said the president spoke to Murdoch before the story was published and told the publisher that the birthday letter was “fake.” Murdoch told Trump he would “take care of it,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
“Murdoch’s direct involvement further underscores Defendants’ actual malice,” the filing added, referring to the legal standard Trump must clear to prevail in his lawsuit.
The paper’s article reported that Trump sent a birthday letter to Epstein that featured a drawing of the outline of a naked woman’s body and a cryptic message: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
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“I’m not a drawing person,” Trump said during a visit to Scotland. “I don’t do drawings. Sometimes you would say, would you draw a building? And I’ll draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity stuff. But I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you.”