Former US President Donald Trump has filed a $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit against Dow Jones, News Corp, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and two Wall Street Journal reporters over claims that he penned a “bawdy” birthday note to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.
In the lawsuit filed in Miami on Friday, Trump accused the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of defamation, slander, and publishing what he described as “fake news.” The newspaper had reported that the note, allegedly sent for Epstein’s 50th birthday, was typewritten inside a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman and contained a joking message ending with the words: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Reacting to the publication, Trump said: “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”
On social media, he announced: “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. I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case.”
A spokesperson for Dow Jones responded: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Trump, who was recently seen attending the Fifa World Cup with Murdoch, also alleged that the media tycoon and the WSJ had been warned about potential legal action if they went ahead with the story.
The Wall Street Journal article reported that the letter featured an “imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person,” and included a line that read: “Enigmas never age.”
The lawsuit came on the same day the US justice department formally asked a judge to unseal grand jury materials related to Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case, citing “public interest.” Epstein was charged with trafficking dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, acting on Trump’s orders, filed the motion to release the secretive documents, which are normally protected by law unless a judge finds that public interest outweighs confidentiality.
The department also requested disclosures in the case of Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted for her role in the child sex trafficking conspiracy.
Despite the move, it remains uncertain when or if the documents will be made public, or whether they contain the revelations Trump’s supporters are demanding.
Some of Trump’s backers have voiced disappointment over his handling of the case. Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff and California gubernatorial hopeful, told the BBC: “We feel like we’re being talked down to like stupid children.”
Pressure is mounting in Congress as well, with lawmakers from both sides — including Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — supporting a “discharge petition” to compel the justice department to release a wider range of Epstein-related records.
The White House said on Thursday that a previous truce in the Epstein case, facilitated by the US government, appeared to be holding — but the storm surrounding Trump’s lawsuit and calls for transparency suggest that political and public scrutiny of the case is far from over.
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