U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Dow Jones, News Corp, media magnate Rupert Murdoch, and two Wall Street Journal reporters, accusing them of defamation over a report that claimed he once sent a risqué birthday message to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Filed in a Miami court on Friday, the lawsuit alleges slander and defamation in connection with a Wall Street Journal article that described a typewritten note purportedly sent by Trump to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. The article claimed the message was enclosed within a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman and included a cheeky remark ending with: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,” Trump said in response to the report.
Trump announced the legal action on social media, calling the Journal a “useless rag” and vowing to hold everyone involved accountable. “We have just filed a powerhouse lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, fake news ‘article,’” he wrote. “I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case.”
Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, issued a brief response, stating, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
The article at the center of the lawsuit also described the letter as an “imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person,” with one line reportedly reading: “Enigmas never age.” Trump, who was recently seen at the FIFA World Cup alongside Murdoch, alleges that both the media mogul and the newspaper were warned in advance about potential legal consequences if they proceeded with publication.
The lawsuit was filed on the same day the U.S. Department of Justice requested a judge to unseal grand jury materials related to Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case, citing “significant public interest.” Attorney General Pam Bondi, acting under Trump’s directive, filed the motion to release the long-secret documents, which are typically kept confidential unless a judge determines that transparency outweighs legal protections.
The Justice Department has also sought disclosures in the related case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, who was convicted for her role in the trafficking operation.
However, it remains unclear when—or if—the sealed materials will be made public, or whether they contain the kind of explosive revelations that Trump’s base has long demanded.
Some of Trump’s supporters have begun expressing frustration over the handling of the Epstein saga. “We feel like we’re being talked down to like stupid children,” said Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff and California gubernatorial candidate, in an interview with the BBC.
Calls for transparency are growing louder on Capitol Hill as well, with lawmakers across party lines—including Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—backing a discharge petition to force the release of a wider array of Epstein-related records.
While the White House said Thursday that a prior truce in the Epstein case remains intact, the controversy surrounding Trump’s lawsuit and intensifying calls for full disclosure suggest that public and political pressure is far from fading.
