Trump suing Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for $10bn after Epstein letter report

Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication's owner, News Corp.

The US president has accused the named individuals of defamation, claiming they acted with malicious intent and caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Miami, seeks at least $10bn (£7.5bn) in damages.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump called the lawsuit "historic legal action" which he said was filed on behalf of himself and all Americans who will "no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media".

"I hope Rupert and his 'friends' are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case," he wrote.

It comes after Mr Trump claimed that a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was "fake" and said he would sue the "ass off" Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which first published the story.

The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003.

It claimed the message, allegedly from Mr Trump, featured several lines of typewritten text, concluding with: "May every day be another wonderful secret."

The text was framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the WSJ claimed. The letter is also said to have featured the signature "Donald".

Mr Trump immediately denied writing the letter when the WSJ report was published on Thursday night.

"The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein," he wrote on Truth Social.

"These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn't print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I'm going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper."

Mr Trump ignored questions about Epstein as he signed a cryptocurrency bill at the White House earlier on Friday.

The president's lawsuit comes as the US government filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019.

In a Manhattan federal court filing, the Justice Department said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of "the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein".

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Posting on Truth Social on Saturday, Mr Trump said even if the courts agree to release the grand jury testimony "nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more".

The Justice Department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.

It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony, which is typically kept secret under US law.

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The president has faced increased scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein since his administration's U-turn on the so-called 'Epstein files'.

Mr Trump pledged to release the files during his second presidential campaign.

His MAGA movement accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein's crimes and covering up a so-called "client list" - thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in his child sex trafficking operation.

But after a review of the evidence, the Justice Department said recently that no "further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted".

Joshua Schiffer, a lawyer who represented some Epstein accusers, said the controversy "confirms President Trump can't get away from the Epstein issue and his rabidly supportive base really wants answers".

He told Sky News: "[It's] very difficult for them to put forwards with a straight face that they aren't massive volumes of investigatory notes; that there weren't hundreds of agents spread across the world investigating these serious crimes.

"There's the civil litigation on top of that - some of that was shared with several investigatory agencies."

(c) Sky News 2025: Trump suing Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for $10bn after Epstein letter report