Murdoch Paper Shreds Trump for Being His ‘Own Worst Enemy’ in Epstein Drama

The Rupert Murdoch–owned Wall Street Journal has ridiculed Donald Trump for his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

The paper’s editorial board suggested that people might not be “obsessing” over the newly released trove of emails sent to and from the disgraced financier if the president and other MAGA figures had not riled up the base by insisting there was a deep-state cover-up of Epstein’s crimes in the first place.

“As is so often the case, Mr. Trump has been his own worst enemy here. As a candidate, he fanned the expectations of the Epstein conspiracy theorists who think the government is protecting the rich and powerful. Once in power, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel teased explosive findings but later said there’s nothing to see,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote.

“Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has resorted to his usual default that it’s all a ‘hoax,’ even as he strong-arms Republicans to oppose the discharge petition. He looks like he has something to hide even if he doesn’t.”

US President Donald Trump speaks with the media aboard Air Force One prior to landing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, October 19, 2025. — Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein fell out around 2004 before the financier was exposed as a child sex offender. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Trump has long denied being involved in, or even aware of, the child sex-trafficking crimes of Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. However, questions continue to swirl about the Trump–Epstein relationship as the administration appears increasingly desperate to prevent the Epstein files from being released.

On Wednesday, emails released by the House Oversight Committee suggested Trump was aware of Epstein and Maxwell’s crimes.

“Of course [Trump] knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop,” Epstein wrote in a January 2019 email to author Michael Wolff.

In 2011, Epstein also wrote to Maxwell: “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump…[Virginia Giuffre] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75% there.”

Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, was the most high-profile trafficking victim of Epstein, although she never implicated Trump in any crimes.

The House is expected to vote soon on a bill forcing the Department of Justice to release all of its files on Epstein after a discharge petition finally reached the 218-signature mark following Rep. Adelita Grijalva’s swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday.

The Journal’s editorial board suggested that Bondi could have “taken the media heat” months ago by staging a press conference explaining why the federal government is not releasing all the Epstein files, despite vowing to do so.

Instead, the DOJ and the FBI announced in July that there is no evidence of a so-called “client list” featuring high-profile names linked to the late pedophile, and that no one else beyond Maxwell will be charged in connection with Epstein’s crimes.

Attorney General Pam Bondi delivers remarks in the State Dinning Room of the White House on October 23, 2025 in Washington, DC. — Attorney General Pam Bondi has also received intense criticism for her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Alex Wong/Getty Images

“There are good reasons of privacy and unfair guilt by association not to dump hundreds of thousands of pages of raw FBI investigatory files into the public arena. Some victims who so far may not have been publicly identified could also be hurt,” the board wrote.

“Democrats want to keep the Epstein story going because it embarrasses Mr. Trump, and maybe the files will cough up something worse. Republicans don’t want to get cross-wise with that part of the MAGA base that thinks everything is a deep-state conspiracy. This is what passes these days for doing the people’s business in Washington.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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