Murdoch will periodically brief Trump on his health as part of a deal to delay his deposition in the Epstein case

Businessman and media mogul Rupert Murdoch agreed to provide routine updates on his health status to President Donald Trump as part of a court agreement to defer his deposition in the multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit the Republican leader filed against him over a report by The Wall Street Journal related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.

The agreement, filed Monday in a federal court in Miami, details that Murdoch must provide an affidavit about his current medical condition and keep President Trump informed in the event of any significant changes.

The pact comes after lawyers for the Republican front-runner requested that the 94-year-old mogul give a deposition within 15 days, arguing that his advanced age and health problems could cause, in a worst-case scenario, the case not to go to trial.

The $10 billion lawsuit filed by Trump accuses Murdoch, News Corp, its CEO Robert Thomson, Dow Jones & Co. and two WSJ journalists of defamation. According to Trump, the newspaper falsely claimed that, in 2003, the president sent Epstein a birthday letter with inappropriate content. Trump vehemently denied being the author of the note and the alleged drawing that accompanied it. The WSJ defended itself by saying it had full confidence in its sources and thus in the information it published.

According to the court agreement, Murdoch's deposition will go forward only if the judge denies the motion to dismiss the case, and it must be held within a maximum of 30 days at a location agreed upon by both parties in the United States.

Murdoch, founder of News Corp and owner of The Wall Street Journal, has not commented publicly on the settlement. Neither has Trump, who is pursuing the judicial crusade even though Fox News, owned by the mogul, remains a good ally of his administration.