President Donald Trump hosted NewsCorp CEO Rupert Murdoch at the FIFA Club World Cup Final just days before the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had written a “bawdy” birthday letter to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for Epstein’s 50th birthday.
Murdoch was one of several high-profile political and media figures who joined Trump in his suite at the World Cup final on July 13, the Associated Press and CBS News reported. Others included Attorney General Pam Bondi, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Tom Brady.
The Context
Trump and Murdoch have had a cozy professional relationship for years, with Murdoch’s media empire—which includes Fox News and The New York Post—publishing a slew of stories that have been favorable to Trump, from when he was a Manhattan real-estate tycoon, to when he entered politics and finally when he became President of the United States.
But Trump’s relationship with Murdoch hit a boiling point this week, when the Journal reported that Trump was one of dozens of people who wrote letters to Epstein celebrating his 50th birthday in 2003. The story threw a wrench into Trump’s repeated efforts to distance himself from the disgraced late businessman as the administration grapples with the fallout from its handling of the investigation into Epstein’s 2019 death.
What To Know
On Thursday, four days after Murdoch joined Trump at the FIFA final, the Journal reported that the president was one of dozens of people who wrote letters to Epstein celebrating his 50th birthday in 2003. Trump’s letter is said to have featured several lines of typewritten text surrounded by the outline of a naked woman, sketched in marker, and included Trump’s signature.
“Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the letter said, according to the report.
When the Journal approached Trump before publishing its story, the president said in an interview that the letter was “fake” and threatened to sue the paper if it published the explosive report.
Trump raged against the Journal in a Truth Social post on Thursday after its report was published, saying he would sue the paper “shortly” over its “defamatory story.”
The president said he had “personally” warned the outlet and Murdoch before they printed the report that he would sue them if they pressed ahead with publication, and said that Murdoch had assured him that he would “take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so.”
Trump said on Truth Social that in addition to the Journal, he plans to sue Murdoch and the Journal‘s parent company, NewsCorp.
“The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist,” he wrote, adding that he “looks forward to suing and holding accountable the once great Wall Street Journal.”
Newsweek reached out to NewsCorp by email outside of normal business hours for comment.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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