Trump Instantly Folds in Case Against Murdoch

0:00Oh, Donald Trump just got outfoxed, pun intended, by Rupert Murdoch. You know that defamation case down in Miami where Donald Trump made a big deal out of getting the jump on Rupert Murdoch, his 94-year-old Bones, and trying to force him into a deposition because he might die at any minute? Well, not so much anymore. Now that I'm sure the Wall Street Journal lawyers told Donald Trump, you want our guy's deposition before discovery has started, before our motion to dismiss is going to be filed against your defamation case? Because you don't like the fact that the Wall Street Journal ran an article about a leather bound scrapbook birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein in which you called a sexual predator a beautiful secret and an enigma?

0:45You don't like that story? you want to take this deposition of Rupert Murdoch now in 14 days because you think he's old and about to die we want your deposition on the 15th day and now suddenly Donald Trump and the Wall Street Journal just filed a new motion with the judge saying we've agreed not to discuss to take any discovery or depositions until after the Wall Street Journal's motion to dismiss is decided by Judge Gales. Good idea. You're on Midas Touch Network. I'm Michael Popak. This is a version of Legal AF. Let's get down to the new reporting. You saw the headlines. Now let me explain it to you from the context and the perch of being a trial lawyer in Florida in federal courts.

1:29Okay. So two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a front page article, a one in a series of front articles that likely had some corroborating witnesses, like, I don't know, maybe the prosecutor who was fired off the Epstein case by the Trump administration, maybe some insiders in the Department of Justice that don't want to work for Donald Trump. Somebody was giving this Wall Street Journal and their reporters enough confidence that they could run the article that 20 years ago or whatever it was, when Jeffrey Epstein was having a 50th birthday party, get this galene maxwell yes donald trump's other best friend convicted child sex trafficker put together a scrapbook people still do this a scrapbook like a yearbook remember in your book used to write little notes to your friends like oh you know you were the best yeah she put together a scrapbook of like adults submitting birthday card and birthday wishes to jeffrey epstein now look i'm gonna tell you straight i don't think donald trump made the birthday card i'm not expecting the apex.

2:29He can't even read, apparently. I mean, Donald Trump allegedly can't read that. It would explain why he uses that Sharpie pen like a seismograph to sign his name. I don't expect that he made it like an arts and crafts project. Like they brought him in sparkles and glue, and then he made a little card. No. He had people on his staff that could make a card for him and have him sign it at the end and give the general outline of what he wanted on it. and we got pretty good reporting. There's a couple of people on Donald Trump's staff that are pretty good artists. So somebody drew this naked lady and the problem for Donald Trump is it's not a good look when the person that you were best friends with, your BFF, that you said a year earlier than the card has a taste for young women in an interview.

3:17It's not a good look when a sex predator that you may or may not have known at the time, you say about that person you're an enigma and you've got so many sweet secrets that's not a good look and what was the wall street journal to do but then publish that story as soon as they had the right corroborating evidence about it and they've got first amendment lawyers and i'm sure they vetted that and the reporter to within an inch of his life before they ran the piece now donald trump says he heard about the piece and called rupert murdoch and rupert murdoch said I'll look into that. That's my Scottish accent or whatever Rupert Murdoch is.

3:51And I'll look at, I'll take care of it. Well, he took care of it. He took care of it. He called his editors. He called his, he got the report from the reporter that this was solid reporting and he let it be published. If he didn't do it, somebody else would have. What are you supposed to do with that story? Sit on it? Donald Trump's writing sweet nothings about secrets to a guy that's a convicted sex trafficker that used to be your best friend. No, don't report that. So Donald Trump doesn't like it. So now he's painted himself into a corner. He said, I'm going to file a lawsuit. So he files a lawsuit.

4:22Files it down in Miami. Very interesting. You all have seen my other reporting. I think he tried to avoid Eileen Cannon on purpose. So instead of filing it in West Palm Beach, where she might get the case, he filed it in Miami. Why does he want to avoid Eileen Cannon? In case he has to replace Pam Bondi as attorney general. In case there's another opening on an appellate court that he can just shove her through in case there's an opening on the United States Supreme Court. That's for another hot take. All right, let's get back to the Miami filing. Who does he pull? A judge he doesn't really want to see.

4:55Judge Darren Gales, not only an Obama appointee, I happen to know Judge Gales well, but somebody that was his presiding judge in the case for defamation against Michael Cohen. What happened in that case? Michael Cohen very smartly asked for a quick deposition of Donald Trump. That's a Q &A under oath, like you're in court. And Donald Trump folded and dismissed the case. They get the same judge. Pretty good. Rupert Murdoch in the Wall Street Journal hires some very good lawyers, some of which I know. I think a firm in Miami called Gunster Yokely. He's local counsel. And Maine Council is a very fine firm, the Tremaine Wright firm up in New York, which handles First Amendment cases for major news outlets like Wall Street Journal.

5:41And Donald Trump wants to get, I guess, he learned from the Michael Cohen experience. So he's going to ask for the fast depot? I was like, this is a mistake. Him opening himself up, Donald Trump, to any depot is a mistake. Now, later, beginning. So just as we predicted on Legal AF, as soon as he asked for a fast depot of Rupert Murdoch, early in the case, because he's going to die. He's 94 years old. Then they had a whole list in the motion about why they need a fast depot. He had COVID. he passed out he had a stroke he broke his back or whatever he's 94 and he has all the information and i don't have any information he knows everything i don't know anything i think i said when i saw this motion it's called an essay bene motion it's when you're trying to preserve testimony because somebody's about to die or go out of the country or whatever i said this is a mistake for donald trump it's one of the dumbest things i've ever seen first of all in in the motion itself i thought it was a confession by donald trump and his lawyers that they didn't have a good faith basis to bring the case.

6:40Because he said, I don't really know much. It's all in the mind of Rupert Murdoch. Then how do you file the case? You have to have a minimum of good faith basis. If you're anything like me, the very first thing you do when you get home is rip off your bra and get comfortable. But that is until I got this amazing new bra from Honeylove. Their bras are so comfortable, you actually forget you're wearing them. And frankly, that's not going to be the first thing you feel like doing when you get home from work. So I don't know about you, but I am absolutely in love with Honey Love. It's just a fantastic undergarment product that is our sponsor.

7:21They have wireless bras that feel like second skin. They're lightweight, they're breathable, perfect for the summer heat, which is where I am in New York. It's quite hot. And so whether you're wearing a t-shirt, a tank top, a sundress, their bras give you just the right amount of lift without that terrible squeeze, thanks to years of research. So they have a ton of wonderful, beautiful bras that you should look at. And they aren't the stiff wires or the bulky padding. It's the shape you want without the stuff you don't. Once you try it, you'll love it. You'll forget you're even wearing one. So go ahead, ditch the discomfort, say goodbye to those terrible underwires and treat yourself to the summer support you deserve with Honey Love.

8:01And for a limited time, you can get Honey Love on sale. Treat yourself to 20 % off your entire order by heading to honeylove.com slash legal AF. Support the show and check them out because you deserve this glow up. So here's what I am sure, this is my artist rendering as a 35-year federal trial lawyer of what took place. Donald Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito. We're filing, We're about to file this essay bene motion to get a deposition before any discovery is conducted in the case months early because your guy's old. And we're giving you – we have to have what's called a meet and confer about it before we file it.

8:41Okay. We're not going to agree to that. They file the motion. We report on it. You know, normally what happens in the order of operation in federal court proceedings in civil cases is that there is an exchange of documents and information under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. I give you mine, you give me yours, you show me yours, I show you mine, I give you a little bit of a list. We get together, the judge does a pretrial order, we submit our proposed timelines from now until trial about what gets done when. Federal court is very deadline oriented, a lot of milestones. Magistrate judges kind of keep an eye on all of this.

9:19What you don't do is jump off sides and ask for a deposition, like in the first few days of filing your case. That's usually for month, you know, third month, fourth month, fifth month, sixth month after you got documents together. I mean, I've done early depositions. I've done cases with no depositions. But usually you want some minimal, minimal discovery. And judges don't really like to see people trying to catch the other side unaware or flat-footed with these early depositions. So here's the conversation. Okay, we want a deposition in 14 days. And here's what the Wall Street Journal lawyers, I'm sure, said to them.

9:49We're going to be filing a motion for summary judgment and or motion to dismiss because you don't have a way to sue us for defamation under a number of doctrines. Fair reporting privilege. We're just reporting the news. That's a privilege, a common law privilege. You can't show actual malice, which is a requirement for defamation against a person who's publicly notorious or a public figure. Actual malice means you knew what you were publishing was false or you recklessly disregarded whether it was true or false. You don't have that element. And so on and so on and so on. I'm sure they also raised the specter of a federal sanctions motion under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which require that there be a good faith basis to file.

10:37Judges also have inherent authority to award things like attorney's fees if against lawyers and parties if the case is frivolous. That's what happened to Donald Trump, also in the Southern District of Florida, up in West Palm Beach. Maybe the other reason they didn't want to go to West Palm Beach, because Judge Middlebrooks, a senior status judge there, and he already fined them a million dollars, Alina Habba and him, for a frivolous case when he filed it three years ago against Hillary Clinton and others for defamation, etc., etc. So it was a combination of preserving Eileen, whatever her name is, and not pulling Middlebrooks.

11:12But I'm sure in the conversation, the lawyers who are very fine for the Wall Street Journal and Murdoch said, we're going to do a Rule 11 sanction against all of you and ask for sanctions. But you better agree to drop this request, this demand for an early deposition. Because if you don't and you want this in the first 14 days, on the 15th day and the next day, your guy, Donald Trump, is going to be deposed. And they certainly don't want that. So Donald Trump blinked. no depositions. I know the headline two weeks goes, deposition early for Donald Trump with Rupert Murdoch. Over. Nobody's being deposed.

11:50Trump's not being deposed. That's a good thing for Trump. And Murdoch's not being deposed until Judge Gales rules on the motion to dismiss that the Wall Street Journal is going to file. And that's the motion that they filed with the court to inform the court. We want to agree there is no discovery. Withdraw our earlier motion. We can deny it as moot. We're withdrawing it. And we're going to, nobody's going to depose anybody. So it became like mutually assured destruction. You take my guy, I take your guy. That's exactly what we thought was going to happen. And that's what happened. And this is Tuesday.

12:25So we got Taco Tuesday. Trump always chickens out, especially in his civil lawsuits, which he brings for political purposes and talking point purposes that have no real merit. He's going to get fined another million dollars eventually. I mean, put that in the time capsule. I think that's going to happen. So we're going to continue to follow the next steps. Next steps in front of Judge Gale is going to be a motion to dismiss by the Wall Street Journal. I think it's a 70, 30 % chance he's going to grant that motion to dismiss. Emotions to dismiss are based on the four corners of the pleadings and you can't go outside the pleadings.

12:57They may even bring a motion for summary judgment. They might have such strong position or a motion for judgment on the pleadings. 70-30. Judge keeps the case alive, maybe. I think we're months away from any real threat of depositions in the case. Because Donald Trump, I guess, forgot that as a plaintiff, he's going to have to give a deposition. And he does terrible in depositions. When he's not taking the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, right, he's stepping all over his testimony and he can't keep his lies straight. You saw the testimony in the E. Jean Carroll case where he was finally a judge to be a sex abuser and has to pay$100 million in total.

13:34Right? He got all confused and befuddled. Didn't know what photos meant. Didn't know who was in photos. It was busy trying to be a child and insult the lawyer instead of answering the questions and getting the answers right. So I'll continue to follow it right here. You're on Midas Dutch Network. You're on Legal AF. Take a moment. Hit subscribe for both channels. Thumbs up. Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.

14:25We've got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Wear Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

14:55Happy ending. Zero tears. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms.