Miami, Florida - President Donald Trump asked a federal judge on Monday to expedite a deposition of Rupert Murdoch in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, citing the media baron's advanced age.

"Murdoch is 94 years old, has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life (and) is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares," Trump's attorneys said in a filing with a district court in Florida.

"These factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial," they said, asking District Judge Darrin Gayles to compel an "expedited deposition."

Gayles gave lawyers for Murdoch until August 4 to respond.

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Trump sued Murdoch and the Journal this month after it published an article about his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The newspaper reported that in 2003, the then-real estate magnate wrote a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein, illustrated with a naked woman and alluding to a shared "secret."

Trump denies any such letter exists.

Epstein, a longtime friend of Trump and multiple high-profile men, was found hanging dead in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually exploited hundreds of underage girls at his homes in New York and Florida.

The case sparked conspiracy theories, especially among Trump's far-right voters, about an alleged international cabal of wealthy pedophiles.

When Trump returned to power for a second term this January, his supporters clamored for revelations, but the FBI and Justice Department released a memo this month claiming that Epstein had not blackmailed any prominent figures and did not have a "client list."