Trump's Trials - Trump sues Wall Street Journal: what's different about his latest media lawsuit

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

In a clash of conservative titans, President Trump sued Rupert Murdoch after the 'Wall Street Journal published a story about a bawdy birthday card Trump made for the late Jeffrey Epstein. NPR's David Folkenflik reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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Listen in the time it takes you to do any of those other activities or while doing them. We bring you the stories you need to know in just five minutes, every hour of every day. Listen now to the NPR News Now podcast. I'm Stephen Skeep in Washington, D.C. President Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch, the founder and controlling owner of Fox News, who also owns many newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal. The Journal last week reported that Trump signed a crude 50th birthday card for the late Jeffrey Epstein. NPR has not independently verified that.

The president denies it. In fact, he sued The Wall Street Journal and its owners. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflick joins us now. David, good morning. David Folkenflick Good morning, Steve. Steve Okay. So what's at the core of Trump's complaint here? David Folkenflick Well, he says he's been defamed and liable. He's sued down in Florida by the fact that he sent this birthday card, which was in a

sense, he is denied sending. He says, I don't draw things. Other people have brought forward drawings that he's done. He said, those aren't my words. Other people have shown at times he has used these words. But it's sort of a leering birthday card. But there's a question. I've talked to various legal observers about what the harm is to his reputation here. It was sent to perhaps the nation's most famous person who's been convicted of sex offenses. But he's been accused of sending a birthday card about two decades ago, if slightly leering one. Pete And he was already known to have been a friend of Jeffrey Epstein in the years before he was arrested and so forth. Trump himself is on the record admitting that, yeah.

Jared He's also been accused by, you know, dozens of women and things he's denied, but nonetheless accused by dozens of women of things like sexual misconduct, sexual assault, like the idea of sending a birthday card defaming his character is a real question. Also, he is not only a public figure, which raises the bar under the law of what he has to prove his burden to show to be able to prevail in a civil case, but he is the most powerful public figure in the country. And therefore that makes it all the more difficult for him to prevail. And yet, as a private citizen, he has sued CBS, ABC, Metta, Twitter, and gotten settlements out of those, at least in recent past. Okay. So I get the broad strategy of suing the media, but this seems like an unusual

case because Trump and Rupert Murdoch have been allies and it would seem in some ways they still are allied. The Wall Street Journal broke this story that Trump didn't liket Murdoch have been allies, and it would seem in some ways they still are allied. The Wall Street Journal broke this story that Trump didn't like. Murdoch seems to have disregarded Trump's personal appeal to kill the story. But at the same time, Fox News, which reaches far more people,

seems to be doing far less. Just a minute ago, I was looking up a TV monitors in our studios here. CNN is wall-to-wall Jeffrey Epstein. MSNBC is covering, or was a minute ago covering Jeffrey Epstein. Fox News seems to be doing less. So why would Trump sue an ally? Well, right. And Fox News was happy to do all kinds of things on Epstein while Trump

and his supporters were whipping that up as a story, right? You know, they've both benefited from this alliance. Fox has, core viewers have often overlapped with the president's core supporters. He's suing in part because he sued the press repeatedly and he's trying to throw brush back pitch. By doing this to Rupert Murdoch, by doing this to the Wall Street Journal, he's essentially saying, look, even those outfits that you may think I'm sympathetic to or have a deal with, they're on notice too. You know, this alliance served Murdoch really well. If you think back in the first term, the Trump administration waved through the sale of most

of Fox's Hollywood holdings to Disney without a hiccup. That was an enormous media consolidation that could have been reviewed far more closely. In this way, he's saying to folks who are allied to him, to folks who are not, look, I will come after you. It doesn't matter whether you've been allied with me or not. You know, the journal has incredible lawyers. Murdoch likes a good story. I assume he'll defend this. But to be honest, some people who used to work for him at fairly senior levels tell me, you know, when it comes down to it, both of them are transactional and practical.

It wouldn't totally surprise them to see a settlement. NPR media correspondent, David Folkenflick. Thanks for the insights. Really appreciate it. You bet. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and of course who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more.

Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detro. Thanks for listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. Congress has approved a White House request to eliminate federal funding for public media. NPR remains committed to our mission of informing the public, increasing your understanding of the world and enriching everyday life. But without federal funding, we are relying on your support now more than ever. Please give today at donate.npr.org. At Planet Money, we know that economic jargon can sometimes feel like speaking another language.

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