Key Points

Taking to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said, "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end right now."

The remarks came after a collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003 included a note bearing Donald Trump's name and an outline of a naked woman, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Thursday (local time), as per CNN.

The report, which cites documents reviewed by the newspaper, comes amid continued public interest in Epstein's past connections with powerful individuals. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of child sex trafficking.

Trump has denied writing the letter and accused the media of running a coordinated smear campaign, according to CNN.

Trump also threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal, News Corp., and Rupert Murdoch for the Jeffrey Epstein story they published on the Epstein files.

"The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued. Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so. The Editor of The Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker, was told directly by Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE, but Emma Tucker didn't want to hear that. Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway. President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly. The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don't even exist," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also issued a strong statement on X (formerly Twitter), accusing the Journal of publishing unverified claims. "The Wall Street Journal published a hatchet job article with a FAKE 'birthday letter' that is supposedly from 2003," she wrote.

"This is like the Steele Dossier that kickstarted 'the Russia, Russia, Russia' Hoax all over again. The WSJ refused to show us the letter and conceded they don't even have it in their possession when we asked them to verify the alleged document they're basing their ENTIRE fake story on," she said.

She added, "As I said at the podium today, there is a coordinated Hoax by the Democrats and Fake News to smear President Trump, as we've seen throughout both of his terms."

- ANI