US President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against The Wall Street Journal, its parent company NewsCorp, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over a report alleging he sent a sexually suggestive letter to Jeffrey Epstein.
The controversy stems from a Wall Street Journal article that cited a letter, purportedly from Trump to Epstein, included in a set of documents the late financier received for his 50th birthday. According to the report, the letter featured a sketch of a naked woman and bore Trump’s name. Trump has categorically denied any involvement, calling the letter a “FAKE” and warning the Journal against publishing it.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at the newspaper: “The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned… that the supposed letter… was a FAKE. If they print it, they will be sued.”
He added that both White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and he himself had notified WSJ Editor Emma Tucker about the inaccuracy, but the paper allegedly ignored the warnings.
“The press has to learn to be truthful and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist,” Trump wrote, accusing the Journal of publishing “false, malicious, and defamatory” content.
Trump also claimed he has previously prevailed in legal battles with major media outlets like ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and CBS’s 60 Minutes, and expressed confidence about taking on The Wall Street Journal next.
Calling the Epstein report a “hoax,” Trump stated: “If there were any truth at all… this information would have been revealed by Comey, Brennan, Crooked Hillary, and other Radical Left Lunatics years ago.”
As reported by CNN, the Wall Street Journal’s article cited a cache of letters and notes given to Epstein in 2003, one of which reportedly contained Trump’s name and a crude drawing. Trump denied both authoring the letter and making the drawing, telling the Journal: “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”
Jeffrey Epstein, a financier with ties to many global elites, was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and later found dead in jail. His death was ruled a suicide, though it has since fueled widespread conspiracy theories.