LOS ANGELES (OC).–President Donald Trump, fresh off $15 million and $16 million settlements with ABC News and CBS, threatened to sue NewsCorp, parent company of Fox New and the Wall Street Journal, for publishing a story claiming that Trump wrote disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein a racy birthday letter. Trump warned NewsCorp CEO Rupert Murdoch and its editor-in-chief Emms Tucker that the letter in their possession was fake, calling the story “false, malicious and defamatory.” It wasn’t that long ago when Murdoch was forced to pay Dominion Voting Machines $787.5 million for false statements about rigged Dominion voting machines in the 2020 election. Murdoch paid Dominion April 18, 2023 and fired Fox New host Tucker Carlson April 21, 2023. Trump’s suits of ABC and CBS were a fraction to Murdoch’s settlement of Carlson’s defamatory statements of Dominon Voting Machines.
Publishing a fake document alleging the Trump sent a racy birthday card to Jeffrey Epsstei was an instant invitation for a lawsuit. “President Trump has already beaten George Stephanopoulos/ABC, 60 minutes/CBS and others, and looks to suing and hold accountable the once great Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform shortly after the WSJ published its report. “Complete and utter bullshit,” said Vice President J.D. Vance decrying the Journal’s story as fake. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt called the Journal’s report a “hatchet job article,” saying the Journal “refused to show use the letter and conceded they don’t know even it they have it in their possession when we asked them to verify the alleged document,” Leavitt said. “We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” Leavitt said.
Getting the grand jury testimony out in public won’t be easy given the highly secret nature of the proceedings. Epstein’s grand jury was even more secretive because of all the child victims of sex abuse. Epstein’s partner in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell currently sits in federal prison since 2022 while she appeals her conviction on sex trafficking. Any transcripts released would be confined to Epstein and Maxwell’s testimony, not the many victims that have come forward with stories of sex abuse. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said that whatever came out from the secret testimony would be confinced to Epstein and Maxwell. Wall Street Journal published a story saying that Trump sent Epstein a lewd birthday card, something Trump emphatically denies. Why the Journal would go out on a limb with an unverified story is anyone’s guess. Wall Street Journal showed it’s undisciplined.
No news organization, no matter how partisan, can act so irresponsibility publishing a story about Trump that has no real verification. What did the Wall Street Journal think would happen publishing a fake story about Trump? All the brouhaha about the Epstein case stems from Democrats seeking desperate ways to discredit Trump. Trump has been hit with everything but the kitchen sink in the past, all proven to strengthen his position when dealing to slander and defamation. How much more slanderous does it get saying Trump played into Epstein’s obsession with underage minors? “I’m going to sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else,” Trump told the Journal. What possible reason would the WSJ fabricate a story about Trump to help Democrats do what? What editor would allow a report with such flimsy verification? WSJ was looking for a fight.
Whether admitted to or not, the Wall Street Journal has its anti-Trump contingent, aligned with the Never Trump crowd, like former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Ut.) or former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.). Romney never said a good word about Trump until he realized his won the 2024 election and could potentially cause him trouble if he kept shooting off his mouth. When it comes to major news networks or publications like the Journal, you’d think they would be extra cautious making indefensible statements without anything to back them up. If Trump never wrote any lewd birthday card, the Journal just lost another $15 million on top of its whopping settlement with Dominion voting machines, costing Tucker Carlson his job. What was Tucker thinking making indefensible statements about Dominion Voting Machines when it could cost NewCorpt nearly a billion dollars?
Now the Wall Street Journal gets its turn to cost NewCorp more cash from an entirely avoidable lawsuit. Today’s media outlets, broadcast and print, write whatever’s driven by their party affiliations. Looking to take back the House, the WSJ thinks they can help Democrats get back in power by tying Trump to the latest scandal involving Epstein. Most voters don’t care about Epstein or whoever solicited his services years ago. When it comes to Trump, the legacy media is desperate to find any hook that can discredit him before the 2026 Midterm elections. If they can whip the public into a frenzy about nothing, they’ll continue to do it if they think it harms Trump politically. Some folks think Epstein was whacked in his New York jail cell awaiting trial for sex trafficking. When the New York City coroner ruled it was death by suicide, what’s left to say?
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
