US – In response to a story about an alleged offensive letter he wrote to the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that included a drawing of a nude lady, US President Donald Trump vowed to sue The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Trump’s signature on the message to Epstein was part of a set of notes celebrating Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, according to the Journal story, which immediately went viral in the US capital. Despite not printing an image, the publication claims to have reviewed the letter.
In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump stated that President Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt personally informed the Wall Street Journal’s editor that the letter was a fake.
“Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway,” he stated.
“The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. (Rupert) Murdoch may soon be the targets of a lawsuit brought by President Trump. The media must learn to tell the truth and stop depending on sources that are most likely fake.
Like other letters in the collection, the claimed letter, which Trump denies writing, is vulgar, according to the Journal. It has a marker-drawn outline of a nude woman with multiple lines of typewritten text inside.
“The future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,” according to the Journal.
“The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.'”
Trump told the Journal, “This is not me,” denying that he wrote the letter or drew the image. This is not authentic.
“I don’t draw women,” he declared. “I don’t speak that language. It’s not what I said.
At Sunday’s FIFA Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium outside of New York City, Murdoch, the head of NewsCorp, was in Trump’s suite.
The Epstein row
The Republican president, who was already under criticism for his previous friendship with Epstein, said his government is hiding graphic details of Epstein’s crimes in order to shield wealthy and influential people.
After being accused of sex trafficking in a plot in which he reportedly prepared young and underage women for sexual assault by the wealthy and powerful, Epstein committed suicide in a New York prison in 2019—during Trump’s first term.
The far-right, which supports Trump, has long seized on the controversy, asserting that the late financier was actually killed in his cell as part of a cover-up and that there is a list of Epstein’s influential clientele that is still classified.
Supporters of Trump are being told that the conspiracy theories are untrue, despite their expectation that the Republican will respond to their inquiries when he returned to office in January.
There is no proof that the disgraced banker kept a “client list” or was blackmailing influential people, according to a report released earlier this month by the Justice Department and FBI.
Additionally, they denied that Epstein was killed while incarcerated, confirming that he committed himself, and they announced that they would not be disclosing any further details regarding the investigation.
A federal prosecutor who worked on Epstein’s case and is the daughter of a well-known Trump opponent was then abruptly fired, according to a number of US media sites on Thursday.
According to a number of prominent US outlets, Maurene Comey, whose father is former FBI director James Comey, was fired on Wednesday from her job as an assistant US attorney in Manhattan.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the sole former Epstein colleague to face criminal charges related to his actions, was also brought to justice by Comey.
According to The Journal, Maxwell put together the leather-bound volume of letters for Epstein in 2003.
“The WSJ ought to feel guilty about publishing it. This letter is where? Would you be surprised to hear that they didn’t reveal it to us before it was published? JD Vance, vice president, posted on X.
“I think we now know EXACTLY why Donald Trump refuses to release the Epstein files,” wrote Democratic lawmaker Pat Ryan in the meanwhile.
