Elie Honig: Trump Filing a Libel Lawsuit Against the WSJ’s Epstein Letter Report Means He Will Have to Testify

TAPPER: “So, Elie, what would discovery look like? I mean, I imagine if The Wall Street Journal and News Corp and Rupert Murdoch are going to mount any sort of defense, they‘re going to want to know everything they can find out about President Trump‘s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. They‘re going to seek possession or introduction as evidence, whatever this birthday book is. I mean, might this not end up just drudging up a lot of stuff Trump doesn‘t want to talk about anyway?”

HONIG: “I‘m not so sure Donald Trump has fully thought this one through, Jake, because you showed at the beginning of the show his very recent social media post where he said, oh, I look forward to deposing Rupert Murdoch under oath. That should be fascinating. Well, guess who else is going to have to testify under oath at a deposition? The plaintiff in this case, the person who‘s suing, Donald John Trump, and the subject of that testimony, which again, will be under oath, will be his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, no holds barred. And by filing this lawsuit, he is walking himself right into that scenario. Discovery goes both ways. Plaintiff has to turn stuff over to the defendant and vice versa. So I have some questions about the legal strategy here.”