CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Friday that President Donald Trump could face a “no holds barred” deposition over his past association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump filed a lawsuit Friday against Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones & Company Inc., News Corporation, and two Wall Street Journal reporters over allegations that he wrote the now deceased Epstein a suggestive letter in 2003. During an appearance on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Honig said that while Murdoch’s testimony is certainly noteworthy, he pointed out that Trump himself will also face intense scrutiny in the process, particularly regarding his relationship with Epstein.
“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,’” Honig told host Jake Tapper. “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.”
Honig said that the legal process, especially in high-profile cases like this, involves “no holds barred” testimony.
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“And the subject of that testimony, which again will be under oath, will be his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Honig said . “No holds barred.”
Honig expressed concerns about Trump’s legal strategy. (RELATED: DOJ Formally Asks Manhattan Court To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Testimony)
“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,” Honig said.
Trump’s past connection with Epstein has been well-documented, with Trump praising the convicted pedophile before Epstein’s 2006 criminal charges. Reports from The Washington Post, however, say the two men had a falling out by 2004, reportedly over a property dispute in Palm Beach.
Epstein was first charged in 2006 in Florida with felony solicitation of prostitution but later struck a plea deal in 2007 after a grand jury indicted him on one count of felony solicitation. His legal troubles escalated, and, by 2019, Epstein faced new charges in New York, including sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
Epstein’s death in August 2019, while incarcerated at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, was ruled a suicide. The case resurfaced in July when the Department of Justice released a memo stating that no “client list” had been found and that there was no evidence of foul play in his death, which led to pushback from Democrats, with House lawmakers, spearheaded by California Rep. Ro Khanna, attempting to force Bondi to release all Epstein-related files.
Republicans in both chambers successfully blocked the resolution during a procedural vote on Tuesday. Despite that, the Department of Justice formally petitioned a Manhattan federal judge to unseal grand jury testimony from the Epstein prosecution.
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