President Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal for defamation over a report detailing a 2003 letter from him to Jeffrey Epstein in which he wrote that they share a “wonderful secret.”
With the lawsuit, filed on Friday in Florida federal court, the Journal becomes the latest media outlet targeted by Trump for adversarial reporting, joining ABC News and CBS News. It sets the stage for another legal battle in which media’s incentives to stay out of Trump’s crosshairs by settling will be questioned, this time featuring Journal parent Dow Jones & Company., owned by close Trump ally Rupert Murdoch.
On Thursday, the Journal reported that Epstein was sent a bawdy letter signed by Trump containing several lines of typewritten text. Inside the outline of a naked woman framing the text was an imaginary conversation between the two written in the third person.
“Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything,” the note began.
Donald: Yes, there is, but I won’t tell you what it is.
Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is.
Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it.
Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?
Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.
Trump: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.
The report comes amid a firestorm over the so-called Epstein files in which Trump’s conservative base is pushing for the Justice Department, which has maintained that there isn’t a “client list” of high-profile people who participated in Epstein’s trafficking of young girls, to release more information on the documents. On Wednesday, he lashed out at his own supporters for criticizing his administration’s decision not to release more material.
Trump has challenged the authenticity of the letter in the Journal‘s story. In an interview with the publication, he denied writing it or drawing the picture. “This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” he said.
“I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” Trump stressed, “I’m gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else.”
The story didn’t include an image of the letter or name its custodian. In response, Vice President JD Vance suggested the Journal falsified the reporting. “Where is this letter?” he wrote in a Thursday post on X. “Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”
The lawsuit comes on the heels of Paramount Global agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit from Trump, who sued over an October interview that 60 Minutes conducted with Kamala Harris. The lawsuit was considered frivolous by most legal observers, but a settlement provided a pathway to regulatory approval of Paramount’s sink-or-swim merger with Skydance.
Media execs have taken notice of Trump’s criticism of what conservatives consider biased reporting. Jeff Bezos revamped The Washington Post‘s opinion section to bring it more in line with Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal; Bob Iger allowed ABC News’ settlement of a defamation lawsuit from Trump, reported The New York Times; Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong shifted the paper’s strategy to increasingly platform conservative views.
More to come.
