Trump sues the Wall Street Journal and its owner over its report on his relationship with Epstein

US President Donald Trump sought on Friday to calm a storm sparked by a report about the extent of his friendship with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, ordering the Justice Department to begin declassifying documents from Epstein’s trial and filing a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, which published the report, and its owner, Rupert Murdoch.

The lawsuit comes a day after Trump threatened to sue the newspaper over its publication of a report that he sent a sexually explicit letter to Epstein.

The lawsuit was filed in Miami in federal court for the Southern District of Florida; and its full contents couldn’t be immediately accessed.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social, “I look forward to hearing Rupert Murdoch’s testimony regarding my complaint against him and this ‘pile of garbage’ journalist, the Wall Street Journal… It will be an interesting experience”.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she will ask the judiciary to declassify grand jury testimony in this case, in an attempt to calm the anger of many Trump allies who believe the White House attempted to cover up the affair.

The letter Bondi sent to New York for this purpose stated that the unusual request involved a great public interest.

In the US judicial system, a jury of randomly selected citizens intervenes during the investigation, reviews evidence and testimony, and decides whether to bring charges.

It’s not clear though, whether a court could allow the publication of testimony given to the jury.

On Friday, Trump didn’t answer a question from White House reporters about whether he would request the release of more documents related to the Epstein case.

Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in July 2019, and charged with sexual exploitation of minors and conspiracy to sexually exploit minors.

His death has fueled a number of unconfirmed theories claiming that he was killed to prevent the disclosure of information about prominent figures.

He was sentenced to a short prison term in 2008 after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitutes, including minors.

For years, figures close to Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have been demanding the release of an alleged secret list of people involved with Jeffrey Epstein.

But about ten days ago, the Department of Justice and the FBI confirmed in a joint report that there was no evidence of the existence of such a list or of any blackmail of specific individuals.

This sparked a wave of anger among MAGA supporters on social media.

Trump was a friend of Epstein’s, and photos and videos of the two of them at parties have been published over the years, although no evidence has emerged of any wrongdoing.

But a Wall Street Journal article published Thursday evening makes it unlikely that the issue will be buried.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s partner, asked dozens of his close friends, including Trump, then a real estate mogul, to contribute to a guest book prepared as a gift for her partner for his fiftieth birthday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump contributed a message that included pornography, like the others in the book.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s letter is a typed text, several lines long, surrounded by a drawing of a naked woman.

The Wall Street Journal noted that Trump signed the letter in his own handwriting below the woman’s waist, making his signature, “Donald,” appear to resemble pubic hair.

The Wall Street Journal said it had reviewed the letter but declined to republish it.

Trump expressed his regret that the newspaper, despite his warning, persisted in publishing a false, malicious, and defamatory article, asserting that if there was an ounce of truth in the Epstein hoax, this information would have been exposed long ago by his political opponents.

The US president added via Truth Social, “Those aren’t my words… I told Rupert Murdoch it was a scam and that this false story should not be published, but he did, and now I am suing him”.