Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's bring in John Decker, twenty four to seven News
White House correspondent on this Trump lawsuit. John, good morning, Hey.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning to you. Hope you're doing well today. Yes,
President filing that lawsuit Friday afternoon in a federal court
in South Florida. The President's suing for defamation, asking for
ken billion dollars from the company that owns the Law
Street Journal and from Rupert Murdoch, the primary shareholder of
(00:29):
dal Jones. And so this will obviously be a process
to see whether or not there's a settlement in the case.
The Law Street Journal is saying they will vigorously defend
themselves from this lawsuit that has been filed by President Trump.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, how what how do you approve any of it?
My question?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
You know?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And and well, and what is the standard of proof?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I guess, yeah, So as it relates to trying to
win this case, I'm a lawyer. I'll give you a
sense about what it is that the lawyers for President
Trump would have to do. The president is a public
figure and as a result, the bar for proving defamation
for winning this lawsuit is higher then if a private
(01:12):
citizen were filing, for instance, to lawsuit for defamation. The
President has to prove that not only did the Law
Street Journal know this story was false when they published it,
but they acted with malice disregard for the truth in
publishing this particular article. That's a high bar. Typically, it's
(01:33):
a difficult bar to prove, and that standard was set
by the US Supreme Court. So that's what the Trump
lawyers will have to contend with in trying to win
this lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Right, And the first part of that's the most difficult,
right John, that they knew it well, well, that's.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Right now, that's right now. The purpose of this lawsuit,
the President says, is to establish from the President's point
of view, he says he didn't send a letter to
Jeffrey Epstein in two thousand and three, he never signed
a letter to Jeffrey Epstein in two thousand and three,
he never drew any pictures to accompany that letter in
(02:11):
two thousand and three. The Wall Street Journal maintains that
their story is completely accurate, and as it relates to
defamation lawsuits, truth is the perfect defense for any defendant.
So that's what the Wall Street Journal will argue that
this was a truthful story. And I am certain you know,
I'll tell you something. When you're a reporter, you cover
(02:33):
the way House, you cover the President of the United States,
you have to make sure that stories of this nature
are buttoned up, that you have all the facts before
you publish. And I'm certain the Wall Street Journal would
not just willy nilly publish a story like this without
figuring the consequences if their story is incorrect.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, you wouldn't think what would you speculate, John as
a lawyer, that they would produce as evidence of the
the truth of their story.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, look, you know, I think that's what the authors,
they're two writers associated with this story. That's what those
writers had to do in terms of showing that to
their editors. And I would not be surprised if this
went all the way up to the top, all the
way up to Rupert Murdoch in terms of getting a
green light to sign off in publishing this story when
(03:25):
it came out late last week. You know, like I said,
this is this is really poking the bear. And you
know it's President Donald Trump we're talking about. He had,
by the way, has settled two defamation lawsuits that he's
brought just in the past year. He won a settlement
of fifteen million dollars from ABC News, owned by Walt Disney.
(03:46):
He won another settlement of a similar amount from CBS
News regarding a story that ran on sixty minutes. So
he's on a bit of a winning streak right now.
Maybe he wants to make a three for three and
that's the reason why you find this lawsuit. But again,
if the law Street Journal is adamant, it will not settle.
It's just going to be a long process in terms
(04:08):
of seeing the outcome ultimately of this lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, it was really a bizarre letter. Who whoever penned that?
It was just I mean, who does that? That's strange.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Well, let me just give you the I'll quickly give
you the backstory and then I need to go. But
the backstory is this that woman Gilaine Maxwell, who's now
serving a prison sentence for her involvement with the convicted
sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. She asked friends of Jeffrey Epstein
in two thousand and three to write letters to Donald
Trump to compile in a book that she would present
(04:43):
to him for his fiftieth birthday. So that's the backstory
in Trumps in terms of why this letter was actually
out there in the first place.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Very good, John.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Thanks John Becker, twenty four to seven News, White House
correspondent here on kfab's Morning News. Well, yeah, so that
thing's going to go for a while. Interesting that it
is the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's not one of the we hate Trump outlets, you know,
miss MSNBC or something like that. It's not the New
York Times. No Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, the Journal is as close to down the middle
as there is in the national media. Although the White
House would tell you they're no friend of ours, which
may or may not be true.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
The New York Post is.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
It's their best that's their best friend in print media,
the New York Post. It has been for a long time.
But I'm beginning to see another pattern, Statler, and that
is a relative lack of attention that the as you
like to call it, knee pad media is giving to
this intelligence bombshell. The Tulsea Gabbard on Hatch Yes on
(05:49):
Friday Night. Whoa Nothing in the Washington Post, nothing in
the New York Times, very little in the Wall Street Journal.
Nothing on CNN. I haven't I haven't watched the network.
People they did, they know how much there was yesterday morning.
They avoided it like the plague. The ones I saw
Meet the Depressed was you know, uh set aside for
(06:10):
the British Open on NBC. So I didn't see what
happened on CBS or ABC, but there was there was
a big bombshell on Fox Business because Maria Bartromo made
a big deal out of it, but nobody else did.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I only saw the CBS and they were not anywhere
near that. They avoided it like the plague, unless they
did it at the very end. I didn't see the
very end of it, but they But she spent the
better part of the beginning of the show hectoring the
Commerce Secretary of Lutnik and then and then through lobbing
(06:47):
softballs at the guy who was opposing Lutnik after that.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So that's what that's the part that was face that
was That's when I went away.
Let's bring in John Decker, twenty four to seven News
White House correspondent on this Trump lawsuit. John, good morning, Hey.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning to you. Hope you're doing well today. Yes,
President filing that lawsuit Friday afternoon in a federal court
in South Florida. The President's suing for defamation, asking for
ken billion dollars from the company that owns the Law
Street Journal and from Rupert Murdoch, the primary shareholder of
(00:29):
dal Jones. And so this will obviously be a process
to see whether or not there's a settlement in the case.
The Law Street Journal is saying they will vigorously defend
themselves from this lawsuit that has been filed by President Trump.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, how what how do you approve any of it?
My question?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
You know?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And and well, and what is the standard of proof?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I guess, yeah, So as it relates to trying to
win this case, I'm a lawyer. I'll give you a
sense about what it is that the lawyers for President
Trump would have to do. The president is a public
figure and as a result, the bar for proving defamation
for winning this lawsuit is higher then if a private
(01:12):
citizen were filing, for instance, to lawsuit for defamation. The
President has to prove that not only did the Law
Street Journal know this story was false when they published it,
but they acted with malice disregard for the truth in
publishing this particular article. That's a high bar. Typically, it's
(01:33):
a difficult bar to prove, and that standard was set
by the US Supreme Court. So that's what the Trump
lawyers will have to contend with in trying to win
this lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Right, And the first part of that's the most difficult,
right John, that they knew it well, well, that's.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Right now, that's right now. The purpose of this lawsuit,
the President says, is to establish from the President's point
of view, he says he didn't send a letter to
Jeffrey Epstein in two thousand and three, he never signed
a letter to Jeffrey Epstein in two thousand and three,
he never drew any pictures to accompany that letter in
(02:11):
two thousand and three. The Wall Street Journal maintains that
their story is completely accurate, and as it relates to
defamation lawsuits, truth is the perfect defense for any defendant.
So that's what the Wall Street Journal will argue that
this was a truthful story. And I am certain you know,
I'll tell you something. When you're a reporter, you cover
(02:33):
the way House, you cover the President of the United States,
you have to make sure that stories of this nature
are buttoned up, that you have all the facts before
you publish. And I'm certain the Wall Street Journal would
not just willy nilly publish a story like this without
figuring the consequences if their story is incorrect.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, you wouldn't think what would you speculate, John as
a lawyer, that they would produce as evidence of the
the truth of their story.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, look, you know, I think that's what the authors,
they're two writers associated with this story. That's what those
writers had to do in terms of showing that to
their editors. And I would not be surprised if this
went all the way up to the top, all the
way up to Rupert Murdoch in terms of getting a
green light to sign off in publishing this story when
(03:25):
it came out late last week. You know, like I said,
this is this is really poking the bear. And you
know it's President Donald Trump we're talking about. He had,
by the way, has settled two defamation lawsuits that he's
brought just in the past year. He won a settlement
of fifteen million dollars from ABC News, owned by Walt Disney.
(03:46):
He won another settlement of a similar amount from CBS
News regarding a story that ran on sixty minutes. So
he's on a bit of a winning streak right now.
Maybe he wants to make a three for three and
that's the reason why you find this lawsuit. But again,
if the law Street Journal is adamant, it will not settle.
It's just going to be a long process in terms
(04:08):
of seeing the outcome ultimately of this lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, it was really a bizarre letter. Who whoever penned that?
It was just I mean, who does that? That's strange.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Well, let me just give you the I'll quickly give
you the backstory and then I need to go. But
the backstory is this that woman Gilaine Maxwell, who's now
serving a prison sentence for her involvement with the convicted
sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. She asked friends of Jeffrey Epstein
in two thousand and three to write letters to Donald
Trump to compile in a book that she would present
(04:43):
to him for his fiftieth birthday. So that's the backstory
in Trumps in terms of why this letter was actually
out there in the first place.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Very good, John.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Thanks John Becker, twenty four to seven News, White House
correspondent here on kfab's Morning News. Well, yeah, so that
thing's going to go for a while. Interesting that it
is the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's not one of the we hate Trump outlets, you know,
miss MSNBC or something like that. It's not the New
York Times. No Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, the Journal is as close to down the middle
as there is in the national media. Although the White
House would tell you they're no friend of ours, which
may or may not be true.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
The New York Post is.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
It's their best that's their best friend in print media,
the New York Post. It has been for a long time.
But I'm beginning to see another pattern, Statler, and that
is a relative lack of attention that the as you
like to call it, knee pad media is giving to
this intelligence bombshell. The Tulsea Gabbard on Hatch Yes on
(05:49):
Friday Night. Whoa Nothing in the Washington Post, nothing in
the New York Times, very little in the Wall Street Journal.
Nothing on CNN. I haven't I haven't watched the network.
People they did, they know how much there was yesterday morning.
They avoided it like the plague. The ones I saw
Meet the Depressed was you know, uh set aside for
(06:10):
the British Open on NBC. So I didn't see what
happened on CBS or ABC, but there was there was
a big bombshell on Fox Business because Maria Bartromo made
a big deal out of it, but nobody else did.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I only saw the CBS and they were not anywhere
near that. They avoided it like the plague, unless they
did it at the very end. I didn't see the
very end of it, but they But she spent the
better part of the beginning of the show hectoring the
Commerce Secretary of Lutnik and then and then through lobbing
(06:47):
softballs at the guy who was opposing Lutnik after that.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So that's what that's the part that was face that
was That's when I went away.
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