Donald Trump’s threats to sue The Wall Street Journal have extended to the daily’s owner, Rupert Murdoch.
The president has promised to sue the newspaper over its latest report that Trump penned a cozy and salacious letter to his “pal” Jeffrey Epstein for the child sex trafficker’s 50th birthday. By Friday, that scheme had extended to include Murdoch, the multibillionaire conservative media mogul who Trump claimed he would force to “testify” in the lawsuit.
“I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The Journal reported that Trump wrote the letter at Ghislaine Maxwell’s request, as part of a compilation of messages celebrating the glitterati socialite in 2003. Other notable figures accused of being involved in the project include Harvard University professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, who defended Epstein during his first criminal trial, and billionaire Leslie Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret and co-founder of Bath & Body Works, Inc. Dershowitz did not deny to the Journal that he may have taken part in the collaboration.
“A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret,” Trump concluded his letter to Epstein, according to the Journal.
The Journal reported that Trump’s letter was framed by a crude drawing of a nude woman, done in Sharpie. His signature on the note was scrawled between the woman’s legs and resembled pubic hair.
“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein,” Trump posted to Truth Social Thursday shortly after the report’s publication. “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures. 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. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DJT”
Facing enormous pressure from his base, Trump ordered the Justice Department to release additional documents pertaining to its investigation into Epstein. The White House did not specify if the documents would be made public, and did not explain the sudden contradiction after Trump had spent the better part of the last week insisting that the Epstein fiasco was a Democrat-invented “hoax.”
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