Trump's WSJ Lawsuit Has Social Media Users Cheering For 1 Unexpected Reason
But the reasons for their excitement will not make the president happy one bit.
Trump, who filed the federal suit in Miami, is accusing the paper and its owner of libel related to an article published Thursday that alleges the president wrote a 'bawdy' message to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 for the disgraced financier's birthday.
The president said in a subsequent Truth Social post that he looked forward 'to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ.'
However, many of the social media users looking forward to the suit moving forward pointed out that the truth is a defense in libel and defamation cases, so all the Journal has to do is prove its reporting true.
And it seems a good bet that the Journal's lawyers went through the story about Trump and Epstein with a fine-toothed comb before it was published.
Also, Trump has previously threatened lawsuits and not followed through, presumably because the discovery process would force him to answer potentially embarrassing questions under oath.
Back in 2023, during a deposition in the E. Jean Carroll case, the president mistakenly identified his accuser as his ex-wife Marla Maples, according to court transcripts.
It didn't help his case, since he tried to suggest he had not raped Carroll because she was 'not my type.'
People on social media were salivating at the thought that Trump's lawsuit might not work out as he intended.
However, some people saw the lawsuit as Trump's attempt to get a settlement like the $16 million he received from Paramount after he sued the company for alleged election interference by the CBS News program '60 Minutes.'
Although many experts thought Trump's suit had no merit, Paramount agreed to the payout as its proposed merger with Skydance Media awaits approval by the Trump administration.
One X user, @LorraineEvanoff, suspected that Trump might really be suing the Journal and Murdoch as 'a staged distraction with an extra added bonus of funneling a huge pay-off to Trump by way of settlement!!!!!'
Related...
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