Donald Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch, the Wall Street Journal, and Dow Jones for libel over yesterday’s story about the birthday letter he allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein several years ago. Via the BBC:
We are still waiting for more on Trump’s lawsuit but preliminary court documents show it was filed in the Southern District of Florida federal court in Miami.
Besides the Wall Street Journal’s parent company and owner Rupert Murdoch, the two reporters who broke the story yesterday are also listed as defendants: Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.
According to their staff profile on the paper’s website, Safdar is an enterprise reporter based in New York while Palazzolo is an investigative reporter.
Palazzolo has won three Pulitzer Prizes, most recently this year, while Khadeeja Safdar was a finalist in 2020.
Legal eagles on Bluesky raised their eyebrows at the fact that the suit names individual reporters. If any of the many JDs in the Jackaltariat can speak to why that’s so, please do.
And yes, I know: So many things this man has done in the past have reeked of flop sweat and seemed doomed to fail, and then — ah, well, nevertheless:
Still, I think it is the sign of a balanced mind to be able to accept that this lawsuit may not harm him while simultaneously being able to cherish this present moment for a while, knowing that he is somewhere in Washington, sphincter-puckeringly furious and flailing.
Open thread.
UPDATE: New details are coming out about this, and it appears the president has filed this pro se. As in, representing himself:
Wait: pro se? PRO SE? He’s a business tycoon and the f’ing president of the United States, and he filed a suit representing _himself_?! (*uproariously cackles*)
— Greg Greene (he/him/his) (@greene.haus) July 18, 2025 at 10:47 PM
To quote a fictional media tycoon loosely based on Rupert Murdoch:
