Trump, Murdoch agree to delay deposition in WSJ libel lawsuit

Attorneys for President Trump and Rupert Murdoch have agreed to delay a deposition Trump’s team wants the media mogul to sit for as part of the president’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal.

Trump’s legal team last month asked for Murdoch, whose News Corp aquired the Journal in 2007, to sit for a speedy deposition in the case, citing his age and health concerns.

But in a filing with the court on Monday, the two parties agreed not to move forward with discovery and evidence gathering, putting any chance of the 94-year-old conservative media tycoon giving sworn testimony on hold for now.

Trump sued Murdoch and the Journal last month over the newspaper’s reporting on a birthday letter the president is alleged to have sent convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, an accusation Trump has denied.

Trump’s suit against the Journal is the latest in a string of legal battles he has taken to leading media companies and news outlets over its coverage of him in recent months.

The president extracted a $16 million payment from media giant Paramount last month to settle a lawsuit he brought against CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Harris and has successfully lobbied Congress to pull millions in funding from public broadcasting outlets like NPR and PBS.

Trump and Murdoch have had an on-again-off-again relationship that goes back years, and the Journal suit is being closely watched as a test of the power dynamic between the two.