‘They Want to Settle’: Trump Claims the Wall St. Journal is Trying to Cut a Deal On His Defamation Case Over Epstein Story

President Donald Trump claimed the Wall Street Journal is trying to settle the defamation lawsuit he filed over their report that he wrote a bawdy letter to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday.

Speaking with reporters on board Air Force One Tuesday afternoon, the president was asked about his lawyers trying to expedite a deposition from the Journal’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, on the basis that he would be “unavailable for in-person testimony at trial” because he is 94 years old and has had health problems. Trump did not specifically address the question about Murdoch’s deposition — instead lobbing broader complaints about the Journal’s coverage and then making the claim that the Journal is looking to settle the case.

“I’ve been treated very badly by the Wall Street Journal,” Trump said. He added, “And they are talking to us about doing something, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe they would like us to drop that. And so we’ll see … they want to settle it.”

Trump has recently gotten eight-figure settlements in cases against ABC and CBS. ABC agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library over a 2024 segment in which George Stephanopoulos incorrectly stated that Trump had been found liable for rape in the E. Jean Carroll case. CBS parent company Paramount forked over $16 million to the library over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris which Trump claimed was deceptively edited. Many critics believe Paramount was motivated to settle the case in order to gain government approval for its merger with Skydance Media. (The merger was approved by the FCC three weeks after the settlement.)

The president has denied writing the letter to Epstein, while the Journal has said it stands by its reporting.

Mediaite has reached out to the Wall Street Journal for comment. We will update this post if we receive a reply.

Watch above, via NewsNation.