Another pair of influencers might be joining President Trump’s effort to preserve TikTok in the U.S.: Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch.
The Trump administration has been working on a deal that would keep the wildly popular social video service operational for millions of Americans. Under a law signed by President Biden, TikTok’s U.S. service must separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face going dark.
Congress passed the law out of security concerns over TikTok’s ties to China and worries that the app would give the communist government access to sensitive user data, which TikTok has denied doing.
Trump revealed more details about the plan over the weekend. The president on Sunday told Fox News that people involved in the deal include Oracle Corp. cofounder Larry Ellison, Dell Technologies Chief Executive Michael Dell and, probably, Rupert Murdoch and his eldest son, Lachlan.
“I think they’re going to be in the group, a couple of others, really great people, very prominent people,” Trump said on “The Sunday Briefing” on Fox News. “They’re also American patriots. They love this country, so I think they’re going to do a really good job.”
If the Murdochs were to be involved, it could be through their media company Fox Corp. investing in the deal, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly. Fox Corp. owns Fox News, Fox Business and the Fox broadcast network. Fox News’ opinion hosts are vocally supportive of Trump.
The pending agreement would hand over TikTok’s U.S. operations to a majority-American investor group, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Saturday. The app’s data and privacy in the U.S. would be led by Texas-based cloud computing company Oracle, she added.
Oracle’s cofounder and chief technology officer Ellison is a Trump ally who is the world’s second-richest person, according to Forbes. TikTok already works with Oracle. Since October 2022, “all new protected U.S. user data has been stored in the secure Oracle infrastructure, not on TikTok or ByteDance servers,” TikTok says on its website.
Leavitt told Fox News that six out of the seven board seats controlling the TikTok app in the U.S. would be held by Americans and that the app’s algorithm would be controlled by America.
“We are 100% confident that a deal is done,” Leavitt said.
In a Monday news briefing, Leavitt said Trump expected to sign the deal later this week.
ByteDance would retain a less than 20% stake in TikTok U.S. The investor group is still being sorted out, reported CNN, citing a White House official.
The White House, Dell Technologies and Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment. Fox Corp. declined to comment.
TikTok’s future has been uncertain for months since the law was signed. After Biden had signed the 2024 law, ByteDance was initially given a deadline of Jan. 19, which has since been extended several times by Trump. The current deadline is Dec. 16.
Any deal would also need the approval of the Chinese government.
On Friday, Trump suggested on his social media platform Truth Social that China’s president, Xi Jinping, had approved the pact during a call between the two leaders.
Reports cited Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, which quoted Xi as saying the Chinese government “respects the wishes of companies and welcomes them to conduct commercial negotiations based on market rules and reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and balance interests.”
ByteDance in a statement on Friday thanked President Xi and President Trump “for their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States.”
“ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.,” the company said.
Trump has said he believes TikTok played a key role in helping him reach younger voters and win the 2024 presidential election. During his first term, he was a prominent voice calling for TikTok to be banned during his broader campaign against China over trade and COVID-19.
Murdoch will be part of a group of US investors – including Trump allies – trying to take over TikTok’s US operations.
Published On 21 Sep 202521 Sep 2025
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United States President Donald Trump has said media executive Lachlan Murdoch will join a group of American investors seeking to take control of TikTok’s operations in the United States.
In an interview on the Fox News programme Sunday Briefing, Trump said the proposed deal would transfer TikTok’s American assets from Chinese parent company ByteDance to US ownership. He described those involved as prominent people and “American patriots”.
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“I think they’re going to do a really good job,” Trump said, adding that TikTok had helped him expand support among young voters during the 2024 election campaign.
One of the proposed investors – Larry Ellison, the co-founder of the tech firm Oracle – is a prominent Republican donor. Lachlan Murdoch’s father Rupert has backed right-wing causes and parties for decades, but has a complicated relationship with Trump, who is currently suing him.
The initiative would give Trump’s allies in corporate America influence over a platform with about 170 million US users, one of the most widely used apps shaping political and cultural debate.
Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of Fox Corp, recently consolidated control of his family’s media empire, which includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, after settling a long-running legal dispute with his siblings. Trump said the 94-year-old Rupert Murdoch may himself also be involved in the deal.
Murdoch’s media outlets attract right-leaning audiences, but they have occasionally clashed with Trump. The US president’s lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal is for defamation over a July report linking him to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The newspaper has defended its reporting.
Other business figures named by Trump include Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, who, along with Ellison, has previously been connected to discussions on TikTok’s future.
US law passed under the administration of former US President Joe Biden requires ByteDance to divest its TikTok operations, with both Democrats and Republicans supporting the legislation due to security concerns that Beijing could have access to American users’ data.
However, the spotlight on TikTok has also been linked to growing support for Palestinians and opposition to Israel among young Americans, with many pro-Israeli politicians blaming the popular app for the shifting tide.
Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for a ban on TikTok soon after the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, calling the app biased towards anti-Israel content.
Trump had proposed to ban TikTok during his first term as US president, signing two executive orders in August 2020 that were aimed at restricting the app. However, the US president did a U-turn, pledging to “save” the popular app during his 2024 re-election campaign.
The Trump administration has since tied negotiations over TikTok to wider trade talks with China.
China has consistently denied claims by US lawmakers that Beijing pressures apps like TikTok to collect personal information for the state.
Two days after solidifying control of his family’s empire, Fox Corp. Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch touted the strength and newfound stability of their media business.
Murdoch spoke briefly Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, a fireside chat cut short because of Murdoch’s late arrival in San Francisco thanks to a weather delay. Instead of speaking for about 40 minutes, Murdoch appeared for just about 10 minutes.
The session followed this week’s $3.3-billion settlement of the Murdochs’ bitter succession feud, which handed Lachlan the keys to the kingdom. Rupert Murdoch’s trust will be replaced with new ones that benefit his six children. In the coming weeks, the family’s controlling News Corp. and Fox shares will pass from Rupert to Lachlan, sealing the scion’s status as one of the world’s most influential moguls.
The 54-year-old executive already was overseeing Fox News, the Fox broadcast network and the free video service Tubi as CEO of Fox since 2019. As chairman of News Corp., Lachlan Murdoch is perched atop the publishing firm that includes the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, the Times of London, HarperCollins publishing house and newspapers in his family’s native Australia. Now his inheritance and legal standing is etched through 2050.
“It’s great news for investors,” Murdoch said of the family settlement. “It gives us a clarity about our strategy going forward — and shows that our strategy will be consistent.”
The settlement was reached after months of negotiations among representatives of Rupert Murdoch’s children. Three of his offspring — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch — had tried to block the elder Murdoch’s plan to consolidate Lachlan’s power — sending the dispute to a Nevada probate court.
Prudence, Elisabeth and James agreed to surrender their shares and abandon any future involvement in the companies in exchange for $1.1 billion apiece.
Analysts said they don’t expect major changes at Fox, particularly at Fox News, which will continue its conservative drumbeat and support of President Trump.
“We expect the strategy will likely stay the course,” Robert Fishman, a MoffettNathanson research analyst, wrote in a report. “Fox’s emphasis on its differentiated linear assets — namely sports and Fox News — should continue while at the same time balance a streaming push with its recently-launched Fox One and rapidly growing Tubi.”
During the Goldman Sachs conference, Murdoch sounded an upbeat note about last month’s launch of its latest streaming service, Fox One, which delivers news and sports to consumers.
“I don’t want to read too much into our success and our data of the last few weeks but suffice to say its take-up [rate] has exceeded our expectations,” Murdoch said.
Fox One will be part of a streaming bundle with ESPN next month. “We think it’ll be … the essential sports bundle for sports fans in America,” Murdoch said.
Murdoch has been running Fox since 2019 after Rupert Murdoch sold the bulk of the company’s entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Co., in a $71-billion deal which provided Murdoch’s children with a payout of about $2 billion each. At the time, Rupert Murdoch wanted to simplify his company and pave the succession path for Lachlan.
Murdoch noted that resolving the family control issue carried other side benefits, including smoothing the application process for state gaming licenses for the online sports wagering business, FanDuel. Fox has options to take a minority stake in that enterprise.
Rupert Murdoch sought to cement Lachlan’s control as a way to preserve the conservative leanings of his media empire after he is gone.
The 94-year-old patriarch has long viewed Lachlan as his natural heir, in part because his oldest son is the most ideologically in sync with him.
Rupert had become increasingly troubled by the more liberal attitudes of three of his older children, particularly James, who has been outspoken in his disdain of Fox News.
Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch at the 2018 Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
(Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fox shares have fallen about 8% since Monday when the settlement was announced, after the company said the Murdochs planned to price the shares they would sell at $54.25. Shares were trading at $52 on Wednesday.
The closely watched Murdoch succession drama has ended with a $3.3-billion settlement that gives Lachlan Murdoch control of the family’s influential media assets, including Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Fox Corp. on Monday announced the “mutual resolution” of the legal wrangling that had clouded the future direction of the television company and the Murdoch-controlled publishing firm News Corp. The dollar figure was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The succession dispute flared into public view last year after three of Murdoch’s children attempted to block proposed changes that patriarch Rupert Murdoch wanted to make to his trust to cement his oldest son Lachlan’s grip on power. In December, a Nevada probate commissioner rejected Rupert Murdoch’s request to amend his trust amid the opposition by his three adult children.
The 94-year-old mogul wanted to ensure the conservative leanings of his media empire would carry on and felt that Lachlan Murdoch, who serves as chairman and chief executive of Fox, was the most ideologically compatible with his own point of view.
Until now, Rupert’s four oldest children — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch — were set to jointly inherit control of the businesses. But, as part of the settlement, Prudence, Elisabeth and James agreed to relinquish their shares in the family trust and give up any roles going forward.
Two new trusts will be established. One will benefit Lachlan Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch’s two youngest daughters, Chloe and Grace Murdoch, who were born during his union with ex-wife Wendi Deng.
The second trust will benefit Prudence, Elisabeth, James and their descendants. Fox Corp. separately announced a public offering of 16.9 million shares of Fox Corp. stock, currently held by the Murdoch Family Trust.
Those proceeds, along with the sale of 14.2 million shares of publishing company News Corp.’s Class B common stock, will fund the new trust.
Fox said Monday that voting control of the Fox and News Corp. shares held by this trust “will rest solely with Lachlan Murdoch through his appointed managing director” through 2050.
“Fox’s board of directors welcomes these developments and believes that the leadership, vision and management by the Company’s CEO and Executive Chair, Lachlan Murdoch, will continue to be important to guiding the Company’s strategy and success,” the board said in a statement.
Fox said it is not selling any of its stock.
The family will sell nonvoting Class B shares and hold on to its voting shares — and control. Rupert Murdoch will remain the company’s chairman emeritus.
During a six-month period following the stock sales, James, Prudence and Elisabeth will be expected to “sell their de minimis personal holdings in FOX and News Corp.” to severe all ties with the companies.
President Trump has dropped his demand that Rupert Murdoch immediately testify in the president’s libel lawsuit over a Jeffrey Epstein story in the Wall Street Journal, but the 94-year-old media mogul has agreed to provide his health information.
Trump initially demanded Murdoch sit for a deposition within 15 days to answer questions about the Epstein story, citing Murdoch’s advanced age and various health complications.
But the warring sides reached a truce, agreeing that Murdoch instead would provide “a sworn declaration describing his current health condition,” according to a joint stipulation filed in U.S. District Court in Miami late Monday.
“Defendant Murdoch has further agreed to provide regularly scheduled updates to the plaintiff regarding his health, including a mechanism for him to alert [Trump] if there is a material change in his health,” according to the stipulation.
Late last month, the president sued Murdoch, News Corp. and Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. after the paper published a story describing a raunchy birthday greeting that Trump allegedly sent Epstein in 2003 to mark the convicted child sex offender’s 50th birthday. The article said the letter included a sketch of a naked woman, featuring breasts and a squiggly “Donald” signature.
Trump has denied sending the letter, which he said was “fake.” The Journal said the letter was one of dozens of birthday greetings from Epstein friends, which his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell had made into a book.
Trump has said that his friendship with Epstein ended about 20 years ago and that he did not know about Epstein’s crimes.
Trump was furious over the article. His lawsuit recounted a chronology of events, saying the White House became aware of the story after a Journal reporter emailed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to disclose the paper was preparing to publish the story. The White House and Trump’s attorney’s immediately pushed back, saying the allegations were false.
Trump also reached out to Murdoch, according to court filings.
“Murdoch advised President Trump that ‘he would take care of it,’” Trump wrote in a July 17 post on Truth Social, the day the story published. “Obviously, he didn’t have the power to do so,” Trump wrote.
“We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,” according to a Dow Jones spokeswoman.
Last week, Trump’s attorneys launched a startling bid to force Murdoch to promptly appear for a deposition.
In that motion, Trump’s lawyers cited the mogul’s age and health complications. They said that includes a recent fainting episode, and over the last five years, a broken back, a torn Achilles tendon and atrial fibrillation which could make Murdoch “unavailable for in-person testimony at trial.”
According to the agreement, Trump’s request that Murdoch give a deposition will be put on hold until after the newspaper owners make its case that Trump’s lawsuit should be dismissed.
“Until defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint is adjudicated, the parties agree not to engage in discovery,” the stipulation said.
The billionaire — who sits at the top of the world’s most prominent conservative media empire — has become the focus of the president’s fury.
“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,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, a nod to “Fox & Friends,” one of his favorite TV programs. The Journal, he wrote, is a “Disgusting and Filthy Rag,” and Murdoch’s “‘pile of garbage’ newspaper.”
Trump’s attorneys applied more heat last week in a startling bid to force Murdoch to promptly appear for a deposition. In a motion, Trump’s lawyers cited the mogul’s age and health complications, which they said includes a recent fainting episode, and over the last five years, a broken back, a torn Achilles tendon and atrial fibrillation, which could make Murdoch “unavailable for in-person testimony at trial.”
The tussle provides a rare glimpse into the tangled relationship of two titans whose dealings date back a half-century when the Australian-born Murdoch arrived in the U.S. and bought the New York Post, a punchy tabloid with screaming headlines. Trump forged his reputation as a New York real estate tycoon, in part, by dishing scoops to the paper’s celebrity-hungry Page Six.
And Fox News would become one of Trump’s biggest champions. The network has long heaped on positive attention that helped Trump transform himself from reality TV star to the political hero of his Make America Great Again base.
The cable network gave Trump a platform for his unfounded “birther” conspiracies about former President Obama. And Trump’s political rise helped build Fox News into a ratings and financial juggernaut. This summer, Fox News ranks as America’s No. 1 network, according to measurement firm Nielsen, attracting more viewers in prime time than broadcast leaders NBC and CBS.
What’s more, a string of Fox News personalities have joined Trump’s administration, including former weekend host, now secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
Murdoch and Trump “feed off one another — they’ve had this relationship since the ’70s where they kind of benefit from one another,” said Andrew Dodd, a journalism professor at the University of Melbourne. “But they also have these turns where they’re against each other.”
Gabriel Kahn, a USC journalism professor and former Wall Street Journal reporter, said the tension is real.
“As much as Rupert has pumped up Trump World over the last 10 years, Rupert really sees himself as the kingmaker — not the lackey,” Kahn said.
Trump’s social media posts over the years reveal bouts of frustration with Murdoch and his media properties.
The two men have different political philosophies: Murdoch is known to be a small-government Reagan Republican, “not a true conservative populist” in the MAGA vein, according to one Republican political operative who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Insiders and observers point to a series of slights, including a 2015 remark Murdoch made on Twitter a month after Trump descended on the golden escalator at Trump Tower to announce his first presidential bid, and then ignited a firestorm with anti-immigrant comments.
“When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” Murdoch asked a decade ago.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch and his father, Rupert Murdoch, in 2018.
(Adrian Edwards / GC Images)
Murdoch, at turns, tried to recruit or boost rival presidential hopefuls. Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis received flattering coverage on Fox News early in President Biden’s term.
By that time, Trump was back at Mar-a-Lago after losing the 2020 election and Fox News was navigating treacherous terrain. The network was the first major outlet to call Arizona for Biden on election night, riling Trump and his supporters who viewed the move as a betrayal, one that short-circuited their claims the election had been stolen. Fox News witnessed an immediate viewer exodus.
To win back Trump supporters, the network gave a platform to Trump surrogates who suggested machines flipped votes for Biden, despite the fact that Murdoch and others knew such claims were false, court filings revealed.
“They promulgated the ‘Big Lie,’” Dodd said of Fox News’ post-2020 election coverage. “Now, in the twilight years of his life, Murdoch [may be] thinking: ‘Well, this man really is not worth supporting any longer.’”
Such a shift would not be out of character. Murdoch, in the past, has promoted political leaders and governments, only to pull that support.
In the 1970s, after initially backing Australia’s then-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, Murdoch allegedly directed his editors to “Kill Whitlam,” in a political (not violent) sense. Twenty years later in Britain, Murdoch abandoned the Conservatives after being a close ally of former leader Margaret Thatcher. He famously threw the weight of his tabloid, the Sun, behind Labor’s Tony Blair.
“Murdoch has a long career of breaking what he makes,” Dodd said.
His vast empire, divvied between News Corp. and Fox Corp., allows his outlets to have different leanings. The Journal has lent more skeptical coverage to Trump. It broke stories about Trump’s hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy bunny Karen McDougal. This year, its editorial board called his high tariffs “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Fox News, however, remains staunchly in the president’s camp. Murdoch is “putting one part of the organization in attack mode while keeping the other [Fox News] in reserve while it benefits from the base of the person that he’s attacking,” Dodd said.
The media baron has long relished his proximity to power. He attended Trump’s second inauguration in January and participated with business leaders in an Oval Office meeting a few weeks later.
Two days later, a Journal reporter emailed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, advising that the paper was preparing to publish a story about the Epstein birthday letter, according to Trump’s lawsuit. Trump’s lawyers pushed back, saying the allegations were false.
Trump called Murdoch, according to court filings. “Murdoch advised President Trump that ‘he would take care of it,’” Trump wrote in a July 17 post on Truth Social, the day the story published. “Obviously, he didn’t have the power to do so,” Trump wrote.
Trump sued the next day. A Dow Jones spokeswoman responded: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
The legal dustup comes after a string of controversial wins for the president.
Last month, Paramount Global agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a dispute over “60 Minutes” edits of a Kamala Harris interview, a lawsuit that 1st Amendment experts said had no merit. In December, Walt Disney Co. paid $16 million to end a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump over inaccurate statements by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos — an outcome derided by some 1st Amendment experts who thought Disney would eventually prevail.
“President Trump has already beaten George Stephanopoulos/ABC, 60 Minutes/CBS, and others, and looks forward to suing and holding accountable the once great Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote. “It has truly turned out to be a ‘Disgusting and Filthy Rag.’”
Murdoch watchers don’t expect him to capitulate.
“In this bizarre world that we live in, Rupert is actually one of the few people who might be willing to stand up to Trump,” Kahn said. “Remember, Rupert loves newspapers, he loves the scoop and he loves to stir the pot.”
Times staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — President Trump sued Dow Jones and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for libel on Friday, striking back against the publication of a bombshell story in the Wall Street Journal alleging the president sent a sordid letter to notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.
The Journal, a Dow Jones publication, reported Thursday that Trump sent a raunchy 50th birthday card to Epstein that included a sketch of a naked woman, featuring breasts and a squiggly “Donald” signature mimicking pubic hair.
The paper said it had reviewed copies of a collection of lewd letters that Epstein’s longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, gathered from Epstein’s friends and colleagues and compiled in an album to mark his 2003 birthday.
“We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Friday, adding that the suit also targets Murdoch and the reporters on the story.
The suit comes amid renewed questions over the nature of Trump’s years-long friendship with Epstein, the late and disgraced financier whose sprawling sex trafficking ring victimized more than 200 women and girls.
On Friday, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said that FBI officials reviewing more 100,000 records from the Epstein investigation in March were directed to flag any documents that mentioned Trump.
In a letter to leadership of the Justice Department, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said his office “was told that these personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned.”
Trump had already been facing mounting pressure from his MAGA base to publicly release Justice Department files from the case of Epstein.
Trump ordered Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to reverse course on a recent decision to close the case and unseal grand jury testimony. The Justice Department filed a motion to begin that process on Friday afternoon.
“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” Trump announced Thursday on Truth Social. “This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”
The Department of Justice and FBI declared earlier this month in a memo that Epstein’s case was closed and his 2019 death in a New York city jail was a suicide. But Bondi, a Trump appointee and arch loyalist, immediately agreed Thursday to Trump’s new demand.
“President Trump — we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” Bondi wrote on X.
It remains to be seen if Trump and Bondi will persuade a federal judge in New York to release the grand jury transcripts. Such documents are typically not made public and released only under narrowly defined circumstances.
Trump and Epstein became friends in the 1980s.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump told New York magazine, in 2002, noting that Epstein was “a lot of fun to be with” and “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
But their friendship apparently broke down in 2008 after Epstein was convicted of child sexual offenses. Their relationship — and the possibility of Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes — has been scrutinized ever since.
The Epstein case has riveted Trump’s Republican base, largely because of the multimillionaire financier’s connections to rich and powerful people they suspect were involved in his child sex trafficking.
But releasing the files is not entirely up to Trump, even if he wanted to.
“You’ve got decades’ worth of materials,” said David Weinstein, a Miami defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, who said the disclosure of grand jury information is governed by federal rules and cannot be released without a court order.
Even if material does get released, it will pertain only to Epstein and Maxwell’s direct activities — and will be much more limited than the volume of investigative materials, including witness interviews, emails, videos and photos that otherwise exist.
Additionally, “there’s a lot of redactions that will have to be made,” Weinstein said, noting the number of individuals who might have been associated with Epstein during the investigation but were not themselves suspected or charged with crimes. “You’ve seen some of that already in the civil cases that were filed, and where courts have said, ‘No, this is what can be put on the docket.’”
After the Department of Justice dropped the case, many of Trump’s most vocal allies, such as U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), openly dissented from the administration and called for the release of all files.
Earlier this week, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie introduced the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act, which would require Bondi to make public all unclassified records, documents and investigative materials that the Department of Justice holds on the Epstein case.
“We all deserve to know what’s in the Epstein files, who’s implicated, and how deep this corruption goes,” Massie said in a statement. “Americans were promised justice and transparency. We’re introducing a discharge petition to force a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on releasing the COMPLETE files.”
A poll conducted by the Economist/YouGov this month found that 83% of Trump’s 2024 supporters favor the government releasing all material related to the Epstein case.
Wilner reported from Washington, Jarvie from Atlanta. Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.
US Justice Department files a motion in Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the Epstein cases.
United States President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal publication and its owners, including media magnate Rupert Murdoch, seeking at least $10bn in damages over the publication of a bombshell report on the president’s friendship with the infamous high-society sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Florida on Friday, as he attempts to prevent a growing scandal around the Epstein case from spreading further and threatening to cause him serious political damage.
Trump also instructed the US Justice Department to file a motion in Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the Epstein case and that of 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.
In the defamation lawsuit, Trump accuses Dow Jones, News Corp, Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal reporters of acting with malicious intent that caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm. Dow Jones, the parent company of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp.
Before filing the case, Trump wrote on Friday morning on his social media platform Truth Social: “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!!!”
Representatives of Dow Jones, News Corp and Murdoch have yet to comment on the case.
Trump once considered Epstein a friend, and the controversy surrounding the now deceased high-profile figure, who took his own life in prison, has prompted conspiracy theories, especially among the far-right supporters of the US president.
Trump supporters were enraged last week when US Attorney General Pam Bondi reversed course on the president’s election campaign pledge to release court documents that some believed contained damning revelations about Epstein and his alleged elite clientele.
The newspaper said the letter contained a lewd handwritten reference to a woman, with the message: “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” and featured the signature “Donald”.
Following publication, Trump denied sending the letter to Epstein and lashed out at the newspaper.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Many among Trump’s base of supporters believe the government is covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful, and some do not believe he died by his own hand.
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.
However, Bondi, the US attorney general, had pledged months ago to release major revelations about Epstein, including “a lot of names” and “a lot of flight logs”, before reversing course. On Friday, Bondi’s Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said public interest in the Epstein case had prompted the Justice Department to file a request with the court to unseal transcripts of the case.
Trump, who was photographed with Epstein multiple times in social settings in the 1990s and early 2000s, told reporters in 2019 that he ended his relationship with Epstein before his legal troubles became apparent.
