Rupert Murdoch‘s deposition in Donald Trump‘s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the media mogul and The Wall Street Journal likely will not be happening any time soon.
Late on Monday, attorneys for both sides in the case filed a joint stipulation that they would not engage in discovery in the case until a judge decides whether to grant the defendants’ motion to dismiss, which has not yet been filed.
Trump sued Murdoch, the Journal, News Corp. and others after the WSJ published a report on a letter in Trump’s name that was included in an album given to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. The letter, the Journal reported, “contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker,” the Journal reported, adding that a “pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”
In the story and afterward, Trump denied writing the letter, and threatened to sue the publication if it was published.
Last week, Trump’s legal team filed a motion seeking an expedited deposition of Murdoch, unusual at this early stage of litigation. Trump’s team cited Murdoch’s age, 94, and that he has “has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares, and is presumed to live in New York, New York. Taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial.”
In the most recent court filing, Murdoch is to provide a sworn declaration describing his current health condition. That update must be provided within three days of a judge approving the stipulation.
“Defendant Murdoch has further agreed to provide regularly scheduled updates to the Plaintiff regarding his health, including a mechanism for him to alert the Plaintiff if there is a material change in his health. Failure to provide updates in the agreed-upon manner as set forth in the Abatement Agreement shall result in an expedited deposition of Defendant Murdoch,” according to the filing.
A Murdoch deposition would take place within 30 days of a motion to dismiss being denied, and it will occur in person in a mutually agreed upon location, according to the filing. That moment could be a number of months from now, depending on the speed in which it takes a judge to render an opinion.
Asked for an update on the litigation last week, Trump told reporters that “they are talking to us about doing something, but we’ll see what happens. They would like us to drop that. So we’ll see. … They want to settle it.”
A spokesperson for the Journal has said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
