President Donald Trump on Friday took legal action less than 24 hours after The Wall Street Journal published an article saying Trump sent a letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 that included a drawing of a naked woman.
The lawsuit, which seeks at least $10 billion in damages and a jury trial, names the Journal’s parent company, News Corp.; its publisher, Dow Jones; two reporters for the newspaper; News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch; and chief executive Robert Thomson as the defendants.
"We have just filed 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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In an 18-page complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida, Trump’s attorneys said that two days before the article was published, one of the two reporters emailed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about the birthday letter, prompting a Trump attorney to warn the Journal against publication, arguing the article was false and defamatory. None of the defendants responded to the attorney, according to the lawsuit.
"The supposed letter is a fake and the Defendants knew it when they chose to deliberately defame President Trump," the lawsuit says.
Trump denied the Journal’s reporting that he had written a birthday message to Epstein more than two decades ago that featured a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman and a signature of his first name, according to documents reviewed by the Journal. NBC News has not independently confirmed the Journal’s reporting.
A Dow Jones spokesperson defended the Journal's reporting in a statement Friday night.
“We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,” the spokesperson said.
News Corp. and the two reporters listed as defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Information about Murdoch's attorneys was not immediately available on the court's docket.
After the Journal published its article Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce “pertinent” testimony tied to the Epstein case subject to court approval, citing “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein.”
Bondi responded on X that the Justice Department was “ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” and on Friday the Justice Department filed a motion seeking to unseal grand jury transcripts tied to Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case in Manhattan federal court given "the public interest" in the government's investigative work.
The Justice Department plans to work with federal prosecutors in New York to comb through the documents and redact “all victim-identifying information” before any public release, according to the filing.
Trump and his Republican allies have sought to blame Democrats for the maelstrom surrounding Epstein, even though Trump supporters promoted conspiracy theories linked to Epstein’s 2019 death in prison for many years. On the campaign trail, Trump said he would have “no problem” looking into a list of Epstein’s clients if he were elected.
Many of Trump’s supporters have called for the release of records related to Epstein’s case after the Justice Department said in a memo this month that a review of the case files had not turned up a client list, that there was “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions" and that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
The White House said Thursday that Trump is not interested in appointing a special counsel to review Epstein’s case. He has recently downplayed the files as “boring,” and he disavowed supporters who he said “bought into this bulls---.”
Trump, who has frequently threatened legal action against media organizations, has notched several victories through litigation in recent months.
Trump last year sued CBS for $20 billion over a “60 Minutes” interview with 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris that he said was deceptively edited. CBS’ parent company, Paramount, agreed this month to settle the suit for $16 million.
In December, ABC agreed to pay $15 million to settle a similar lawsuit in which Trump said ABC’s George Stephanopoulos defamed him and made false statements during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.
