President Trump’s battle with The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch is being closely watched as a test of the power dynamic between two of the most influential figures on the right over the last several decades.

Trump is suing the Journal over a story it published earlier this month about a birthday letter Trump is alleged to have sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein decades ago. The letter included a drawing by Trump, the Journal reported, of the outline of a naked woman.

The president says neither the drawing nor the letter is his and has denied any connection to Epstein. He suggested this week that Murdoch, who owns a sprawling media empire including the Journal, the New York Post and Fox News, will be eager to settle his defamation suit seeking upward of $20 billion.

“They would like us to drop it; they want to settle it,” he told reporters Tuesday while traveling on Air Force One.

Whatever happens between the Journal, Murdoch and Trump will mark a key moment in the president’s war on the press, which has seen him win multiple settlements from leading media companies in recent months — and led to fears within the press.

It may also serve as a turning point in the Trump-Murdoch relationship.

Since Trump filed his lawsuit against the Journal, coverage of the case has been virtually nonexistent on Fox, and the Journal itself declined to comment after the White House banned its reporters from a recent trip the president took to Scotland over its Epstein stories.

Trump’s influence over viewers of Fox News, the crown jewel of Murdoch’s media empire, has been an issue in the past.

Fox was sued by Dominion Voting........

© The Hill