President Donald Trump threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal on Thursday after the outlet posted a “false, malicious, and defamatory” story about a birthday card he allegedly wrote to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has also directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony related to Epstein, subject to Court approval.”
Trump’s base descended into infighting last week in response to a memo from the Department of Justice and FBI stating that no additional information about Epstein would be released. An investigation found “no incriminating ‘client list'” or evidence that Epstein blackmailed associates, the memo stated.
Trump’s base was quick to admonish the president for his failure to publish files that would supposedly expose the truth about Epstein, which his administration claimed it would do.
As the saga ensued last week, Trump at first told his supporters to “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.” Then, after the Wall Street Journal published a story about a bizarre letter reportedly sent by Trump to Epstein for the latter’s 50th birthday party, Trump asked Bondi to release grand jury transcripts.
The Journal did not publish a copy of the letter. Trump denies writing or sending the letter, and will sue the paper and its owner Rupert Murdoch for defamation, he said on Thursday night.
“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Details about the president and Epstein’s former 15-year acquaintanceship, which ended before Epstein was declared a registered sex offender, have already been reported. Trump has acknowledged in the past that he flew on Epstein’s plane seven times, but denies engaging in any wrongdoing with the sexual predator.
The Journal’s report, however, gives more credence to the unverified claims that the Trump administration has deliberately withheld information about the investigation into Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell is in Florida serving a 20-year sentence after she was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges in 2021.
Trump said during his campaign that he would release the files but would not publish “phony stuff” that may “affect people’s lives.” This week he claimed that former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, along with former FBI Director James Comey, had “made up” the files.
Even though Trump’s MAGA base appeared to splinter over the Epstein files debacle, his supporters rallied behind him on Thursday to defend him against the Journal report.
“Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bulls***,” Vice President JD Vance said. “The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it,” he wrote. “Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”
Elon Musk, who during their viral feud over government spending accused Trump in a now-deleted post of being in the Epstein files, even said that the birthday letter didn’t sound as though it was written by Trump.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 after he was arrested on child sex-trafficking charges,. His death was ruled a suicide.
“I don’t understand why [some Republicans] would be so interested,” Trump said of Epstein. “He’s dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is, I really don’t.”