President Donald Trump has followed through on his vow to file suit against The Wall Street Journal, alleging the newspaper falsely reported that he sent a suggestive birthday letter in 2003 to the now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump filed the suit Friday, seeking at least $20 billion, in federal court in Miami, before announcing it in a post on Truth Social.
“This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,” he wrote.
The suit alleges defamation by the newspaper for an article that was published Thursday amid renewed scrutiny of Trump’s relationship with Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.
In addition to the Journal and its parent company, News Corp, the suit names WSJ reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo. It also names News Corp CEO Robert Thomson and Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch.
The complaint accuses the Journal of “glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting” that it alleges violated the mission of Dow Jones, WSJ’s publisher, and harmed Trump’s reputation.
“Hundreds of millions of people have already viewed the false and defamatory statements published by Defendants,” Trump’s complaint reads. “And given the timing of the Defendants’ article, which shows their malicious intent behind it, the overwhelming financial and reputational harm suffered by President Trump will continue to multiply.”
The article said that the Department of Justice reviewed the 2003 letter from Trump to Epstein as part of its investigation into the convicted sex offender. It said the letter, was part of a book of messages organized by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Maxwell was convicted 16 years later in 2019 for aiding Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors.
POLITICO has not independently verified the letter, which the president has said is fake.
Following the report, the president directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask a federal judge to unseal grand jury testimony in Epstein’s criminal case, a process she set in motion on Friday, which faces several procedural and legal obstacles.
In his complaint, Trump accused the reporters of falsely presenting as fact that Trump authored, signed and annotated the lewd birthday card, claiming that “no authentic letter or drawing exists.”
Trump called the filing “a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit” in his social media post, repeating his allegations that the article is “false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS.”
“This historic legal action is being brought against the so-called authors of this defamation, the now fully disgraced WSJ, as well as its corporate owners and affiliates, with Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson (whatever his role is!) at the top of the list,” Trump wrote.
The Trump administration has faced a firestorm of attacks from conservative activists over its decision not to release additional information about the federal government’s review of Epstein’s criminal actions and 2019 death. But Republicans quickly rallied around Trump in the face of the new revelations, criticizing the Journal as unreputable and biased.
The Justice Department released what it called the “first phase” of documents related to the Epstein probe in February, and earlier this month, it said it had found no evidence of an incriminating “client list” linking Epstein to public figures, which has been a fixation of far-right conspiracy theorists for several years.
Trump’s relationship with Epstein has long been public knowledge, with Epstein appearing at Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago resort as a regular visitor for several years. But Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing linked to Epstein.
News Corp. and Dow Jones, the WSJ’s publisher, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.
