More than a week after Donald Trump’s base looked like it might be fracturing over the Justice Department’s “no client list” Jeffrey Epstein memo, MAGA world got its “perfect offramp” in the ongoing saga thanks to the Wall Street Journal’s latest bombshell.
While on the surface the WSJ’s story – which the president fought tooth and nail to keep from being published – should have inflamed the turmoil on the right as it further exposed just how close the president once was with the deceased sex trafficker, it instead offered MAGA pundits and influencers the chance to join Trump in lambasting their shared enemy – the mainstream press.
Throughout Thursday, anticipation grew that the WSJ would be dropping a blockbuster report that threatened to blow up the already burgeoning crisis for the Trump administration, especially when it was reported ahead of the story’s publication that the president was desperately trying to keep the story from seeing the light of day.
When the WSJ finally pulled the trigger, the story didn’t disappoint. The outlet revealed that in the early 2000s, Trump wrote a sexually suggestive birthday letter to Epstein in which the future president told the disgraced financier “we have certain things in common.”
The “bawdy” card, which was included in a 2003 album put together by Epstein’s since-jailed partner Ghislaine Maxwell, also featured a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman with Trump’s signature appearing in the woman’s pubic area. The text of the letter, which the WSJ said was typewritten, featured an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein.
“Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that? … Trump: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the letter reportedly stated.
“This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” Trump told the WSJ in a statement. “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” (Despite Trump’s claims, doodles of his have been included in books for sale in the past.)
Following the story’s publication, the president – who had started calling the Epstein Files a “hoax” after the WSJ began contacting him about the report – went on the warpath, threatening to sue the newspaper and Rupert Murdoch, the on-again/off-again Trump ally who owns the publication, and Fox News.
“Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so,” Trump grumbled on Truth Social. “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.”
The president would follow that up by saying he looked “forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper,” adding that it “will be an interesting experience!!!” At the same time, members of his administration and his family quickly joined the pile-on.
With the president going off about how he was “going to sue his a** off” over the “FAKE letter,” whatever schism that had formed in the MAGA universe over the administration’s handling of the Epstein files quickly melted away as prominent conservative personalities jumped onboard the media hate train.
One by one, they lined up to agree with Trump that the letter the WSJ reported on was a fabrication, while blasting both the paper and Murdoch for publishing the story in the first place.
“This is the dumbest attempted hit piece I’ve ever read,” fumed Megyn Kelly, who just days earlier had blasted Fox News hosts and MAGA influencers for trying to move on from the Epstein controversy.
The former Fox star has also been extremely critical of the administration’s handling of the Epstein case, joining forces with ex-colleague Tucker Carlson in suggesting Attorney General Pam Bondi is “covering up” evidence. At the same time, Kelly has recently pushed various conspiracy theories about Epstein working for Israeli intelligence – all while admitting that she has no evidence to back her claims.
Former “first buddy” Elon Musk, who has said the administration’s conclusion that Epstein died by suicide and didn’t maintain a “client list” was the “final straw” for him, also came to the president’s defense over the WSJ’s “hit piece.”
Despite repeatedly claiming that Trump was withholding documents related to the deceased sex offender because they implicated him, Musk dismissed the latest report. “It really doesn’t sound like something Trump would say tbh,” the Tesla CEO tweeted, later sharing a summary from his AI chatbot Grok that cast doubt on the birthday card’s authenticity.
Podcaster and serial plagiarist Benny Johnson, who has been at the forefront of pushing the administration to release more Epstein documents amid the MAGA meltdown, unleashed a series of posts raging about the WSJ while peddling conspiracies about the paper’s reporting.
“And, by the way, there is a scandal here. The scandal is in who wrote the story. Oh, yeah, baby,” Johnson crowed on his podcast Friday.
Even one of Murdoch’s employees decided to get in on the action and cheer on the president’s threat against the 94-year-old right-wing media titan.
“Sue them into oblivion,” conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted Thursday night, sharing the president’s Truth Social tirade against Murdoch.
Gaines, the former collegiate swimmer who entered the spotlight as an anti-trans activist, hosts a podcast for Outkick and Fox Nation – which are both owned by Murdoch’s media empire. She is also a frequent presence on Fox News and has served as a guest co-host on the network’s panel shows.
Meanwhile, Gaines’ backing of Trump’s threatened lawsuit against Murdoch comes just a day after she blasted the president for calling his supporters “stupid” and “foolish” for continuing to demand the release of the Epstein files, which he asserted was a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.
“Was it stupid & foolish when he campaigned on releasing the files? Are Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Alina Habba all foolish & stupid for peddling this for the past 6 months?” Gaines reacted, referencing Trump officials who had promised to share “shocking” findings about Epstein only to later back off. “Why on earth is he doing this?”
As mainstream journalists and pundits have observed, the WSJ story couldn’t come at a better time for Trump as it feeds perfectly into the right’s reflexive anti-media stance – regardless of the explosive details contained in the report.
“This WSJ story just might be the best thing to happen to Trump since the Epstein story exploded,” Politico’s Rachael Bade noted on X.
“For the first time, those who most vocally criticized him/his admins for not releasing enough info, are now rallying to his support. (At least for now… we shall see if this holds.),” she added. “Seemed unlikely just a few hours ago, but looks like Trump is getting some in MAGA to embrace his new favorite phrase: the ‘Epstein hoax.’ Is a reminder that nothing unites Rs more than complaints abt the media!”
During Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host Joe Scarborough pointed out that this offered MAGA influencers the “perfect offramp” to stop focusing on the Epstein scandal.
“Oh, look, look what the big, bad Wall Street Journal did to Donald Trump. He’s once again a victim of the lame-stream media,” the MSNBC star added, mimicking pro-Trump voices.
