President Donald Trump has made good on his pledge to sue over The Wall Street Journal’s Thursday report that Trump wrote a “bawdy” letter to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday.
Trump on Friday filed suit against Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, the CEO of News Corp, Robert Thomson, and Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo, both reporters for the Wall Street Journal, accusing the group of committing defamation by publishing the article. The suit seeks at least $10 billion in damages.
“Despite the glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting, Defendants Dow Jones and News Corp. — at the direction of Defendants Murdoch and Thomson — published to the world the false, defamatory, and malignant statements authored by Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo,” the filing reads.
It continues: “Hundreds of millions of people have already viewed the false and defamatory statements published by Defendants. And given the timing of the Defendants’ article, which shows their malicious intent behind it, the overwhelming financial and reputational harms suffered by President Trump will continue to multiply.”
The president’s claims against the media outlet stem from a report published on Thursday. The Journal’s reporting detailed a suggestive letter, bearing Trump’s name, that was presented to Epstein as part of a book of letters gifted to him on his 50th birthday, in 2003.
“Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the letter, which featured a drawing of a nude woman and Trump’s signature, said, according to the Journal.
In a statement on Truth Social made after the suit was filed, Trump wrote that the complaint was “a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal.”
Related stories
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Trump has denied writing the letter or drawing the picture, calling it “a fake thing” in a comment to The Journal. Following the report, the president pledged to sue the media outlet for publishing the story in a series of posts on Truth Social.
“I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” Trump wrote in a Friday morning post.
In a statement provided to Business Insider, a Dow Jones spokesperson said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Florida and reviewed by Business Insider, is on a different court docket with a different docket number than one that led to a spate of headlines from other news publications.
That other court docket does not feature a lawsuit and includes odd details, including an indication that Trump had no lawyer.
Business Insider previously reported that the initial docket featured unusual details, including listing Trump as a “pro se” plaintiff — meaning someone who is not being represented by a lawyer — despite the president having a large roster of personal lawyers and a history of filing suits against various media organizations in the same district.
A person close to Trump’s legal team said the initial reporting about the lawsuit wasn’t legitimate and that the official complaint was in process but had not yet been submitted to the court. The source told BI that the lawsuit could come as soon as later Friday.
The origin of the first reported lawsuit remains unclear.
The complaint against Murdoch and The Journal reporters comes as Trump continues to grapple with his ties to the now-dead financier and convicted sex offender.
As part of his reelection campaign, Trump promised he would make public all the available files related to the government’s investigation into Epstein’s crimes. After taking office, he has changed his tune — and the Department of Justice says it won’t be releasing any more “Epstein Files.”
Though publicly available documents related to Epstein’s sex trafficking trial have not accused Trump of any wrongdoing, Trump’s name and those of some of his family members were listed in one of Epstein’s contact books, and Trump is mentioned as a passenger in flight logs for Epstein’s private jets.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club was regularly referenced during the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate, who was convicted of sex trafficking multiple women on Epstein’s behalf.
One woman testified that Epstein, during the course of several years of abuse, took her to Mar-a-Lago and introduced her to Trump when she was 14 years old. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers, who died by suicide in April, has testified that she and Maxwell were at Mar-a-Lago when Giuffre was recruited as a victim of Epstein’s.
Representatives for News Corp. and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
