Donald Trump has refiled a $US10 billion ($14 billion) lawsuit against News Corporation's Wall Street Journal, claiming that Rupert Murdoch told him he would "handle" a story about Mr Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein.The lawsuit is one of several the US president has brought in his personal capacity against news organisations, part of what critics say is a wider pressure campaign against the media.Last month, a judge dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit filed against the Journal over legal deficiencies but allowed Mr Trump to revise and refile.Mr Trump's lawsuit alleges the Journal tarnished his reputation with an article describing a birthday card to deceased sex offender Epstein as bearing Mr Trump's signature.The Wall Street Journal first reported the sexually suggestive birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein alluding to a "wonderful secret" purportedly signed by President Donald Trump, who has denied sending the note. (X: @OversightDems)Mr Trump and his lawyers said the card is fake. Politicians investigating Epstein's case later released a copy provided by his estate.According to the amended lawsuit, Mr Trump called Mr Murdoch on July 15 after Journal reporters contacted the White House about the story."In response, Murdoch stated, 'I will handle it,' which President Trump reasonably interpreted as meaning that Murdoch believed President Trump, and that the article would not be published," the lawsuit says.Representatives of Dow Jones, the Journal's parent company and a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing or on the allegation regarding Murdoch.Dow Jones, which is owned by News Corp, has previously said it has full confidence in the Journal's reporting and will defend itself in court.Mr Murdoch, who was born in Adelaide, is chairman emeritus of News Corp.Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 in what the city's chief medical examiner determined was a suicide.The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp. (Reuters: File)The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, names Mr Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its CEO, Robert Thomson, along with two Wall Street Journal reporters as defendants, saying they defamed Mr Trump and caused him to suffer "overwhelming" financial and reputational harm.In throwing out Mr Trump's first lawsuit in April, US District Court Judge Darrin P. Gayles, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said Mr Trump had not met the "actual malice" legal standard for public figures in defamation cases, which requires evidence that a defendant published a statement that they knew or should have known was false.The US president has also filed defamation and other lawsuits against other media organisations, including the New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Iowa's Des Moines Register.Those outlets have denied wrongdoing and are fighting the cases in court.Reuters
Trump says Murdoch indicated he would 'handle' newspaper's Epstein story
In refiling his lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, the US president alleges Rupert Murdoch indicated a story about his ties with Jeffrey Epstein would not be published.












