Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to reporters as President Donald Trump listens in the briefing room of the White House.Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press
U.S. President Donald Trump filed a US$10-billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch Friday, a day after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The move came shortly after the Justice Department asked a federal court on Friday to unseal grand jury transcripts in Mr. Epstein’s sex trafficking case, as the administration tries to contain a firestorm that erupted after it previously announced it would not be releasing additional government files from the case, despite previously pledging to do so.
The controversy has created a major fissure between Trump and his loyal base, with some of his most vocal supporters slamming the White House for the way it has handled the case, and questioning why Trump would not want the documents made public.
Mr. Trump had promised the lawsuit after the Journal put the spotlight on his relationship with Mr. Epstein, publishing an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Mr. Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday.
Mr. Trump denies writing the letter, calling the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
The suit, filed in filed in federal court in Miami, accuses the paper and its reporters of having “knowingly and recklessly” published “numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements,” which, it alleges, caused “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” to the president.
In a post on his Truth Social site, Mr. Trump cast the lawsuit as part of his efforts to punish news outlets, including ABC and CBS, which both reached multimillion-dollar settlement deals with the President after he took them to court.
“This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the Journal’s publisher, responded Friday night, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
U.S. President Donald Trump tries to clamp down on criticism over records in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation. 'Some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans' are using a Democratic playbook, he says.
The Associated Press
The letter revealed by The Wall Street Journal was reportedly collected by disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell as part of a birthday album for Mr. Epstein years before the wealthy financier was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently had a falling-out with Mr. Trump.
The letter bearing Mr. Trump’s name includes text framed by the outline of what appears to be a hand-drawn naked woman and ends with, “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to the newspaper.
Mr. Trump denied writing the letter and promised to sue. He said he spoke to both to the paper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, and its top editor, Emma Tucker, before the story was published and told them the letter was “fake.”
“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,” the President wrote on social media.
The outlet described the contents of the letter but did not publish a photo showing it entirely or provide details on how it came to learn about it.
In the lawsuit, Trump takes issue with that fact. The defendants, it attests, “failed to attach the letter, failed to attach the alleged drawing, failed to show proof that President Trump authored or signed any such letter, and failed to explain how this purported letter was obtained.”
“The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists,” it goes on to charge, alleging that the “Defendants concocted this story to malign President Trump’s character and integrity and deceptively portray him in a false light.”
With Epstein conspiracy theories, Trump faces a crisis of his own making
Earlier Friday, Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche filed motions in a separate federal court urging them to unseal the Epstein transcripts as well as those in the case against Ms. Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Mr. Epstein. Mr. Epstein killed himself in 2019 shortly after his arrest while awaiting trial.
The Justice Department’s announcement that it would not be making public any more Epstein files enraged parts of Mr. Trump’s base in part because members of his own administration had hyped the expected release and stoked conspiracies around the well-connected financier.
The Justice Department said in the court filings that it will work with prosecutors in New York to make appropriate redactions of victim-related information and other personally identifying information before transcripts are released.
“Transparency in this process will not be at the expense of our obligation under the law to protect victims,” Mr. Blanche wrote.
But despite the new push to release the grand jury transcripts, the administration has not announced plans to reverse course and release other evidence in its possession. Attorney-General Pam Bondi had hyped the release of more materials after the first Epstein files disclosure in February sparked outrage because it contained no new revelations.
A judge would have to approve the release of the grand jury transcripts, and it’s likely to be a lengthy process to decide what can become public and to make redactions to protect sensitive witness and victim information.
The records would show testimony of witnesses and other evidence that was presented by prosecutions during the secret grand jury proceedings, when a panel decides whether there is enough evidence to bring an indictment, or a formal criminal charge.