President Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its parent company News Corp, alleging they falsely claimed he sent a lewd birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.
The lawsuit, filed in Florida federal court, centers on a July 17, 2025 WSJ article titled “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One was from Donald Trump.” Trump seeks $10 billion in damages, claiming the story was fabricated to “malign President Trump’s character and integrity.”
According to the complaint, the WSJ article described a card allegedly containing “several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman” with Trump’s signature placed “below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.” The article claimed the card included a theatrical-style dialogue between Trump and Epstein, with lines like “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey” and ending with “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump’s lawyers say they warned the WSJ before publication that the story was false, writing in an email that “President Trump did not author the purported letter.” The complaint states the Journal “failed to attach the letter, failed to attach the alleged drawing, failed to show proof that President Trump authored or signed any such letter, and failed to explain how this purported letter was obtained.”
The lawsuit names WSJ parent company News Corp, its owner Rupert Murdoch, CEO Robert Thomson, and the article’s authors Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo as defendants. It claims the story has been viewed by “hundreds of millions of people” and caused “overwhelming financial and reputational damages to President Trump.”
“The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists,” the lawsuit states.
The WSJ has yet to respond to the lawsuit. My guess is they are well-prepared to deal with it.
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