WASHINGTON — President Trump sued Dow Jones and its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, for libel on Friday, placing again towards the publication of a bombshell story within the Wall Road Journal alleging the president despatched a sordid letter to infamous intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein within the early 2000s.
The Journal, a Dow Jones publication, reported Thursday that Trump despatched a raunchy fiftieth birthday card to Epstein that included a sketch of a unadorned girl, that includes breasts and a squiggly “Donald” signature mimicking pubic hair.
The paper mentioned it had reviewed copies of a set of lewd letters that Epstein’s longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, gathered from Epstein’s mates and colleagues and compiled in an album to mark his 2003 birthday.
“We have now simply filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit towards everybody concerned in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ within the ineffective ‘rag’ that’s, The Wall Road Journal,” Trump wrote in a Fact Social publish Friday, including that the swimsuit additionally targets Murdoch and the reporters on the story.
The swimsuit comes amid renewed questions over the character of Trump’s years-long friendship with Epstein, the late and disgraced financier whose sprawling intercourse trafficking ring victimized greater than 200 girls and ladies.
On Friday, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee mentioned that FBI officers reviewing extra 100,000 data from the Epstein investigation in March have been directed to flag any paperwork that talked about Trump.
In a letter to management of the Justice Division, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois mentioned his workplace “was advised that these personnel have been instructed to ‘flag’ any data during which President Trump was talked about.”
Trump had already been going through mounting strain from his MAGA base to publicly launch Justice Division information from the case of Epstein.
Trump ordered Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to reverse course on a current resolution to shut the case and unseal grand jury testimony. The Justice Division filed a movement to start that course of on Friday afternoon.
“Primarily based on the ridiculous quantity of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve requested Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi to supply any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, topic to Court docket approval,” Trump introduced Thursday on Fact Social. “This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, ought to finish, proper now!”
The Division of Justice and FBI declared earlier this month in a memo that Epstein’s case was closed and his 2019 demise in a NY city jail was a suicide. However Bondi, a Trump appointee and arch loyalist, instantly agreed Thursday to Trump’s new demand.
“President Trump — we’re prepared to maneuver the court docket tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” Bondi wrote on X.
It stays to be seen if Trump and Bondi will persuade a federal decide in New York to launch the grand jury transcripts. Such paperwork are sometimes not made public and launched solely below narrowly outlined circumstances.
Trump and Epstein turned mates within the Nineteen Eighties.
“I’ve recognized Jeff for 15 years. Terrific man,” Mr. Trump advised New York journal, in 2002, noting that Epstein was “lots of enjoyable to be with” and “likes lovely girls as a lot as I do, and lots of of them are on the youthful facet.”
However their friendship apparently broke down in 2008 after Epstein was convicted of kid sexual offenses. Their relationship — and the potential for Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes — has been scrutinized ever since.
The Epstein case has riveted Trump’s Republican base, largely due to the multimillionaire financier’s connections to wealthy and highly effective individuals they believe have been concerned in his youngster intercourse trafficking.
However releasing the information is just not completely as much as Trump, even when he needed to.
“You’ve obtained many years’ value of supplies,” mentioned David Weinstein, a Miami protection legal professional and former federal prosecutor, who mentioned the disclosure of grand jury data is ruled by federal guidelines and can’t be launched and not using a court docket order.
Even when materials does get launched, it should pertain solely to Epstein and Maxwell’s direct actions — and can be far more restricted than the amount of investigative supplies, together with witness interviews, emails, movies and images that in any other case exist.
Moreover, “there’s lots of redactions that should be made,” Weinstein mentioned, noting the variety of people who might need been related to Epstein throughout the investigation however weren’t themselves suspected or charged with crimes. “You’ve seen a few of that already within the civil instances that have been filed, and the place courts have mentioned, ‘No, that is what could be placed on the docket.’”
After the Division of Justice dropped the case, lots of Trump’s most vocal allies, resembling U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), brazenly dissented from the administration and known as for the discharge of all information.
Earlier this week, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie launched the bipartisan Epstein Information Transparency Act, which might require Bondi to make public all unclassified data, paperwork and investigative supplies that the Division of Justice holds on the Epstein case.
“All of us need to know what’s within the Epstein information, who’s implicated, and the way deep this corruption goes,” Massie mentioned in a assertion. “People have been promised justice and transparency. We’re introducing a discharge petition to drive a vote within the U.S. Home of Representatives on releasing the COMPLETE information.”
A ballot performed by the Economist/YouGov this month discovered that 83% of Trump’s 2024 supporters favor the federal government releasing all materials associated to the Epstein case.
Wilner reported from Washington, Jarvie from Atlanta. Instances employees author Clara Harter contributed to this report.
