Donald Trump has sued Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal reporters, over an article in the paper about the president’s alleged 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein that contained suggestive language. Trump claims the paper and its journalists defamed him and has filed suit in federal court in Miami, records show.
In an interview with the paper, the president denied writing the letter. “This is not me,” he said. “This is a fake thing.”
According to the Wall Street Journal story, the letter was part of a birthday album with contributions from several prominent friends of Epstein, including attorney Alan Dershowitz and former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner. The Journal wrote that the letter “…contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair. The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.’”
The letter predated Epstein’s 2019 arrest for alleged sex crimes involving minors. It also would have been written five years before Epstein pleaded guilty for soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14 in 2008. Trump, who was friendly with Epstein for years before the pair had what he described as a “falling out,” has been under pressure from his base of supporters to make public documents related to an investigation into Epstein. He has so far resisted those calls, but on Thursday on social media he announced that he was telling Attorney General Pam Bondi “to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony.”
Since reclaiming the White House, Trump has sued several media institutions, including ABC News and CBS News, reaching multi-million dollar settlements with both.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More to come…
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From Variety US