Washington – President Trump sued Dow Jones and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for defamation on Friday, going back against the publication of a story of bombs in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the president sent a sordid letter to the notorious sexual trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.
The Journal, a Dow Jones post, reported Thursday that Trump sent a raluous 50th birthday card to Epstein that included a sketch of a naked woman, with breasts and a “Donald” firm that imitated the pubic hair.
The newspaper said he had reviewed copies of a collection of Lácas letters that Epstein's companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, met from the friends and colleagues of Epstein and compiled in an album to mark his 2003 birthday.
“We have just submitted a powerful demand against all those involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory and false article” in the useless “rag” that is, the Wall Street Journal, “Trump wrote in a social position of the truth on Friday, and added that the demand is also addressed to Murdoch and the reporters in history.
The demand is produced in the midst of renewed questions about the nature of Trump's friendship with Epstein, the late and dishonored financial whose extensive sex trafficking ring victimized more than 200 women and girls.
On Friday, the high -ranking Democrat in the Judicial Committee of the Senate said that FBI officials who reviewed more than 100,000 records of Epstein's investigation in March was ordered to mark any document that mentioned Trump.
In a letter to the leadership of the Department of Justice, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said his office “told these personnel members, they received instructions to” point out “any record in which President Trump was mentioned.”
Trump had already faced a growing pressure from his Maga base to publicly release the archives of the Department of Justice from Epstein.
Trump ordered Atty. General Pam Bondi will reverse the course on a recent decision to close the case and reveal the testimony of the grand jury. The Department of Justice presented a motion to begin that process on Friday afternoon.
“Based on the ridiculous amount of advertising given to Jeffrey Epstein, I asked the attorney general Pam Bondi to produce each and every one of the pertinent testimonies of the Grand Jury, subject to the approval of the Court,” Trump announced Thursday about Truth Social. “This scam, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”
The Department of Justice and the FBI declared earlier this month in a memorandum that Epstein's case was closed and his death in 2019 in a New York city prison was a suicide. But Bondi, designated from Trump and Leal Arco, immediately agreed on Thursday's new demand for Trump.
“President Trump: We are ready to transfer the Court tomorrow to reveal the transcripts of the Grand Jury,” Bondi wrote in X.
It remains to be seen if Trump and Bondi will persuade a federal judge in New York to release the transcripts of the Grand Jury. Such documents are generally not made public and are released only in closely defined circumstances.
Trump and Epstein became friends in the 1980s.
“I have known Jeff for 15 years. Featrify Guy,” Trump told New York magazine, in 2002, noting that Epstein was “very fun to be” and “he likes beautiful women as much as me, and many of them are on the youngest side.”
But his friendship apparently broke in 2008 after Epstein was convicted of child sexual crimes. His relationship, and the possibility of Trump's participation in Epstein's crimes, has been analyzed since then.
The case of Epstein has failed in Trump's republican base, largely due to the connections of the multi -million dollar financial with rich and powerful people who suspect they were involved in their child sexual trafficking.
But releasing the files does not depend at all, even if I wanted to.
“You have decades of materials,” said David Weinstein, defense lawyer of Miami and former federal prosecutor, who said that the dissemination of the grand jury information is governed by federal rules and cannot be released without a court order.
Even if the material is published, it will be seen only for the direct activities of Epstein and Maxwell, and will be much more limited than the volume of research materials, including witness interviews, emails, videos and photos that otherwise exist.
In addition, “there are many writings that will have to be done,” said Weinstein, pointing out the number of people who could have been associated with Epstein during the investigation, but were not suspicious or accused of crimes. “You have seen some of that already in the civil cases that were presented, and where the courts have said: 'No, this is what can be put in the file.'”
After the Department of Justice withdrew the case, many of Trump's most vowels, such as US representatives, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-G.) And Lauren Bobert (R-Colo.), Overly highlighted from the administration and requested the release of all files.
Earlier this week, the Kentucky representative, Thomas Massie, presented the Epstein Bipartisan Archives Transparency Law, which would require Bondi to make public records, documents and research materials not classified that the Department of Justice has in the case of Epstein.
“We all deserve to know what is in Epstein's archives, who is involved and how deep this corruption goes,” Massie said in a statement. “The Americans were promised justice and transparency. We are presenting a high request to force a vote in the United States representatives of representatives about the release of complete archives.”
A survey conducted by the economist/Yougov this month found that 83% of Trump's 2024 supporters favor the government that releases all the material related to the case of Epstein.
Wilner reported from Washington, Jarvie de Atlanta. The Times staff writer, Clara Harter, contributed to this report.
