Trump sues Murdoch and Wall Street Journal for $10bn over Epstein article | BBC News - video Dailymotion

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#DonaldTrump  #RupertMurdoch  #BBCNews  Donald Trump has filed a $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company Dow Jones and its owner Rupert Murdoch over claims that he wrote a "bawdy" note to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.   The US president claims the publication slandered him and violated libel laws in an article alleging that a birthday greeting bearing Trump's name was sent to the late financier in 2003, before he was charged with sex crimes.   Trump said the note, which the paper reported he had sent for Epstein's 50th birthday, is "fake".   It came as the US justice department asked a judge to unseal material related to Epstein, following intense criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the case.   Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog   For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news   #DonaldTrump #RupertMurdoch #BBCNews

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00:00President Trump is seeking at least $10 billion in damages in a defamation lawsuit filed against

00:06the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal. It comes after the paper reported

00:12on a 50th birthday note Mr Trump allegedly wrote to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003

00:21featuring a sketch of a naked woman. In a post on his Truth Social platform he says

00:27we've just filed a powerhouse lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false

00:33malicious defamatory fake news article in the useless rag that is the Wall Street Journal.

00:40Dow Jones which owns the Wall Street Journal says it will vigorously defend itself against the Trump

00:46lawsuit. Meanwhile the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked a court to unseal grand jury

00:53transcripts from the original case against Mr Epstein six years after he died by suicide in

01:00jail where he was awaiting trial for sex offenses. Mr Trump has faced mounting pressure from many of

01:07his own core supporters to share the information after he promised to release files relating to

01:13Mr Epstein during his presidential campaign. Our North America editor Sarah Smith has the report.

01:19Try as he might Donald Trump cannot ignore the Epstein scandal. The questions about his

01:28relationship with the sex offender and what information the government holds about him

01:32just keep coming.

01:40It's no secret that Donald Trump knew and parted with Jeffrey Epstein. He'd rather forget about this

01:46of course and so is furious that details of a lewd letter including a drawing of a naked woman he

01:52apparently sent to Epstein have been published. He posted on social media. The Wall Street Journal

01:58printed a fake letter supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also I don't draw

02:04pictures. Make some noise if you care about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Unusually Donald Trump is being

02:12attacked by some of his most ardent supporters. Angry that he's not published government documents

02:17including the names of Epstein's clients. Six months ago the Attorney General said she was preparing

02:23to publish Epstein's so-called client list. It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a

02:30directive by President Trump. After falling out with Donald Trump, Elon Musk posted on X in June

02:36that Trump is in the Epstein files. The White House rubbished the post which Musk later deleted.

02:42Last week the Department of Justice concluded Epstein did not have a client list that could

02:47implicate high-profile people and that he did take his own life contradicting long-held right-wing

02:52beliefs. Earlier this week President Trump declared the whole Epstein conspiracy theory

02:57was just a hoax. Die-hard Trump fans are demonstrating their fury. Feeling they've been deceived

03:04and demanding the Epstein files be published. Burn baby burn. Right-wing podcasters complete with

03:12tin hats will not let this go. Obviously the Trump administration is trying to cover up.

03:17Something changed because they ran on this idea of exposing it all. Mr. Trump's Attorney General

03:23Pam Bondi is in the firing line over this. I don't mind answering. I mean I can't believe you're

03:28asking a question on Epstein. And now to try to satisfy his angry base he's ordered her to try and

03:34get at least some of the evidence the prosecution gathered against Jeffrey Epstein and make it public.

03:41Well we're going to stay with the story and speak to Dr. Richard Johnson the Senior Lecturer in US

03:46Politics and Policy at Queen Mary University here in London. Hello and welcome to the program.

03:52I wonder first off what do you make of this lawsuit? President Trump himself describing it as historic.

03:58Well it's very much Donald Trump's style throughout his entire business and political career when he

04:05finds himself into in some trouble he launches a lawsuit. In terms of the politics of this I mean

04:11what Donald Trump I suppose needs to do for his own political sake on this is to send the message to

04:19his supporters that this is some kind of conspiracy against him some kind of attack against him because

04:26at the moment it's an unusual issue where you see very high levels of support but among both Democrats

04:33and Republicans for releasing all the files about 85 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Republicans

04:38want all the files released. So Trump needs to in effect polarize the issue and to say don't fall for

04:46this it's the Democrats who are attacking me it's the Republicans who have never come on board with

04:52MAGA etc and I think that's sort of also what he's trying to do here with this lawsuit. What is he

04:58risking here because if once those files are released and there is damaging material in there how can his

05:06team fight that? Well in a sense Trump is currently reaping what he sowed to an extent I mean his

05:13entree into the presidency was partly as a result of Trump fueling conspiracy theories about

05:21Barack Obama's place of birth or what was on Hillary Clinton's computer servers and all throughout the

05:29Biden presidency Donald Trump's outriders were suggesting that Biden was covering up something

05:35from the Epstein files and Trump has now appointed many of these people into senior positions in his

05:41administration including the FBI director. Once they came in clearly that there has been something

05:47that's caused them to reassess the wisdom of releasing it there may be good reasons for that

05:52for example you know some of these are sealed by the courts and you don't want to release files that may

05:59endanger innocent people both people who gave testimony but also maybe people who have been

06:05accused but are innocent. A less good reason for this is to protect Donald Trump and I suppose that's

06:11the that's the big question is is he doing this to protect himself or are there other legal reasons why

06:16the administration is not moving on this? Dr Johnson I appreciate you you're not a lawyer however

06:21defamation lawsuits in the US and and here in the UK certainly are very they have a very high bar

06:30that has been said I mean what will need to be proven in order for the Wall Street Journal and

06:35Rupert Murdoch and the parent company to win this case? You know I think the issue is is not so much

06:42what it'll take to win the case it's actually about trying to muddy the waters for the Wall Street

06:49Journal and for other outlets in a sense I I'm not sure Trump's expecting this to go to some kind of

06:55trial I think he's looking for some kind of settlement some kind of agreement some kind of

07:01arrangement where either the Wall Street Journal retracts what they've said or they qualify it or

07:07even if it just it carries on and on as these trials do for months and indeed years it's sufficiently

07:15off-putting for other outlets who don't want to face the potential of either high levels of legal

07:22jeopardy or also just the time and resources that it will take to fight fight the case and that again

07:27has been very much Donald Trump style all throughout his adult life. Yeah battles with the media. Dr

07:33Richard Johnson thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

Trump sues Murdoch and Wall Street Journal for $10bn over Epstein article | BBC News

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