President Donald Trump denied the Wall Street Journal's report claiming he once wrote a letter to late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein that included an outline of a naked woman and a "Donald" signature.
“I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” Trump told the newspaper in a phone interview via NBC News. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”
Trump also threatened to sue the newspaper if it printed the story, which he called "defamatory" and "a fake thing" in a post shared on his Truth Social account.
"The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued. Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so," Trump wrote.
The president also directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release "pertinent" grand jury testimony in the case against Epstein pending court approval amid scrutiny facing his administration.
“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
“This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!” he added.
On Wednesday (July 16), Quinnipiac University released a poll showing a majority of Americans (63%) disapproved how Trump and his administration had handled the Epstein files. Podcaster Joe Rogan, who staunchly supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, criticized the administration's announcement claiming there was never a list or footage revealing Epstein's alleged clients, which was a talking point of conservative pundits for years.
“They’ve got videotape and all [of] a sudden they don’t,” Rogan said on the episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast released on Tuesday (July 15).
“You had the director of the FBI on this show saying, ‘If there was [a videotape], nothing you’re looking for is on those tapes,'” he added, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel's appearance on his podcast in June. “Like, what? Why’d they say there was thousands of hours of tapes of people doing horrible s–t? Why’d they say that? Didn’t Pam Bondi say that?"
Bondi had previously claimed that the supposed Epstein list was on her desk awaiting review months ago and told reporters that the FBI was reviewing "tens of thousands of videos" of Epstein "with children or child porn" on July 1 before the DOJ suddenly announced that there was no "Epstein list" or incriminating footage of his associates days later. President Trump spent months claiming he had plans to release everything the government had on Epstein and his alleged associates, which included releasing The Epstein Files: Phase 1 in February, though the files revealed next to no new information.
Trump, who had been photographed alongside Epstein in the past, claimed that he never visited the financier's notorious private island where numerous underage girls and young women were sexually abused, but claimed "a lot of people did."