(Headline USA) President Donald Trump promised a lawsuit after The Wall Street Journal described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter, calling it “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
Trump also directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to try to make some of the documents in the case public.
Bondi said she would seek court permission Friday to release grand jury information, but it would require a judge’s approval, and she and Trump were silent on the additional evidence collected by federal law enforcement in the sprawling investigation that Bondi last week announced she would not release.
President Trump—we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts. pic.twitter.com/hOXzdTcYYB
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 18, 2025
“This SCAM, perpetrated by the Democrats, should end, right now!” Trump said online.
However, unsealing the grand jury docs won’t end the “scam.” Only a small fraction of Epstein’s victims testified before a grand jury, so the full extent of his criminal enterprise won’t be known, even if a judge agrees to unseal additional records.
The letter revealed by The Wall Street Journal was reportedly collected by disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell as part of a birthday album for Epstein years before the wealthy financier was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently had a falling-out with Trump. The letter bearing Trump’s name includes text framed by the outline of what appears to be a hand-drawn naked woman and ends with, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to the newspaper. The outlet described the contents of the letter but did not publish a photo showing it entirely.
Maxwell was arrested in 2020 and convicted a year later on charges that she helped Epstein lure girls to be sexually abused.
Trump slammed the story in a lengthy social media post Thursday night, saying he spoke to both to the paper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, and its top editor, Emma Tucker, and told them the letter was “fake.” Trump promised to sue the paper over the story, saying: “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”
Vice President JD Vance said The Wall Street Journal “should be ashamed” for publishing it.
“Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?” he wrote on X.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
