President Donald Trump on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and related parties for publishing a story regarding his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The president’s lawsuit targeted Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch and the two reporters who wrote the story, Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo, along with the Wall Street Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones & Co. It was filed in a Miami court, although a copy of the civil complaint was not immediately available.
Trump was one of the many high-profile figures, including former President Bill Clinton, who was friends with Epstein for years before Epstein was convicted of sex crimes in 2008. Trump and Epstein’s friendship appeared to end around 2004 over an argument.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal covered a birthday letter, including a marker drawing of a nude female body, that the president allegedly wrote to Epstein in 2003. Trump denounced the story as “false, malicious, and defamatory” and immediately threatened to sue the outlet and Murdoch.
“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 Truth Social post earlier Friday.
The debacle came as the Trump administration has come under scrutiny, even from MAGA supporters, for its handling of the Epstein files.
Epstein’s death in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial has raised a host of questions, despite the death being ruled a suicide. Critics allege a deep-state operation to eliminate Epstein before he could testify in court and expose potentially high-profile associates, leading to calls for all files involved in his case to be released to the public.
A TIMELINE OF TRUMP AND EPSTEIN’S RELATIONSHIP, FROM FRIENDSHIP TO FALLOUT AND BEYOND
Trump promised to do so, but the Justice Department, led by Pam Bondi, has attracted backlash for not releasing Epstein’s “client list,” which allegedly reveals powerful figures he blackmailed by offering them sex with minors. Bondi says an investigation showed no such list exists.
The White House declined to comment on the lawsuit when emailed by the Washington Examiner.