What Trump’s ‘birthday card’ to Epstein said as he threatens to sue WSJ and Rupert Murdoch: Live updates

MAGA allies who turned their backs on President Donald Trump for failing to release Jeffrey Epstein‘s client list are reinvigorated over his vow to unseal bombshell testimony about the disgraced billionaire.

The WSJ said the birthday card featured the outline of a naked woman with pubic hair drawn out by the signature ‘Donald.’ The typewritten text reads: ‘Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.’

Trump denied he wrote the letter while threatening to sue the newspaper and its owner Rupert Murdoch.

He also promised to release the grand jury testimony to spite the media and Democrats who have perpetuated the so-called ‘Epstein hoax.’

The promise has renewed hope among MAGA loyalists who have been publicly criticizing him and Bondi for failing to deliver on a campaign pledge to release Epstein’s client list.

Video from a 1992 party at Mar-a-Lago shows Jeffrey Epstein laughing at a joke from his then friend, Donald Trump.

Democrats are furious over the time and money spent on reviewing the Epstein files to yiled no new findings.

The minority on the Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding Attorney General Pam Bondi answer a series of questions that they claim will provide more clarity on the failures in the review.

In a letter to the AG, Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dick Durbin asks if she has ‘personally reviewed all files in DOJ’s posession related to Jeffrey Epstein.’

He also wants her to turn over any files the Justice Department might have in the case that even mention Trump.

Donald Trump has denied the explosive claim that he sent Jeffrey Epstein an X-rated, hand-drawn birthday card by insisting that he does not draw.

However, multiple old drawings allegedly done by the president have surfaced, including at least five pieces created by Trump that have been sold at auction over the past decade.

In January, Sotheby’s sold a Trump portrait, this one in his beloved color of gold, for $15,000, according to the Daily Beast.

The sketch, said to be ‘reminiscent of the Riverside South development project in Manhattan,’ was initially done for a celebrity art auction to benefit Capuchin Food Pantry, dubbed ‘Doodle for Hunger.’

In 2017, another one of Trump’s skyline drawings for the charity sold for $29,184.

The same year, an additional skyline drawing he created for the St Francis Food Pantries and Shelters sold for $20,000.

Also in 2017, a sketch of the Empire State Building by Trump sold for $16,000 by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles

That same auction house also sold a Trump 2006 original they titled ‘George Washington Bridge’ for $4,480.

In 2008, Trump wrote about his ‘new talent’ of drawing in his book, ‘How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success.’

A page in the book features one of Trump’s drawings, a line of skyscrapers in what appears to be New York City.

Trump wrote that his drawings are usually for charity, and that ‘it takes me a few minutes to draw something, in my case, it’s usually a building or a cityscape of skyscrapers.

He continued: ‘Art may not be my strong point, but the end result is help for people who need it.’

Former Palm Beach County state attorney Dave Aronberg insisted there is ‘not much’ in the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury filings and claimed ‘there is not client list.’

‘There’s not much — at least not in the grand jury transcripts that the public really doesn’t know,’ he told CNN This Morning on Friday.

‘The grand jury met and ended up filing the charges against Jeffrey Epstein. He was indicted. And there are grand jury secrecy rules. So, there will be redactions even if they are released. And it’s a question of whether a judge will even allow them to be released.’

He also denied that there is an Epstein’ client list’ that many are demanding be released.

‘It’s pretty clear there is no client list. The people closest to this. There is no client list,’ Aronberg said.

‘Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, says there is no client list, but there are files, documents, images that have not been turned over to the public, in part because of privacy rules.

‘But the reason why this is not going away is that the Trump administration officials, namely, Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, the — Donald Trump’s son, they have all been perpetuating this myth.

‘They’ve been using this lie as a way to help their own careers, and now, it’s biting them in the butt. I mean, this is what happens when you continue to feed the alligator. The alligator is always hungry, and eventually, it’s going to bite your face off.’

Elon Musk trolled President Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein files in a post to X on Thursday.

The billionaire SpaceX founder posted an image of a jet covered in illegible papers wioth the caption: ‘How to make a totally invisible plane.’

The meme claimed the image shows a prototye of an ‘ultra-stealth aircraft’ that has an exterior coating of the Epstein client list, which grants the aircraft ‘invisibility.’

Even some of Trump’s base claim he is now hiding the Epstein ‘client list.’

A new Daily Mail poll, conducted in partnership with JL Partners, shows that the president’s job approval rating is improving amid the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Unlike other major polls, which suggest Trump’s public support is on a downward trajectory.

James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners, tells the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview that the discrepancy between the polls is telling.

‘Remember: the pollsters who got the election wrong are telling you that Trump’s approval is falling off a cliff. They’re wrong,’ Johnson says. ‘Trump’s support is remarkably solid.’

Indeed, the Daily Mail’s general election poll was the most accurate in the country, forecasting Trump’s victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris, beating out 20 less accurate major pollsters, eight of which predicted Trump would lose the popular vote.

Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines has offered her support to Donald Trump after criticizing him for his refusal to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

She encouraged the president to sue The Wall Street Journal ‘into oblivion’ after the newspaper published an article claiming Trump wrote Epstein a salacious birthday card.

Two days earlier, she accused the president of hypocrisy for failing to release the files.

The conservative activist wrote on X: ‘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?

‘Why on earth is he doing this?’

Donald Trump once called Jeffrey Epstein a ‘terrific guy,’ but changed his tune over the years after the disgraced financier was charged by federal prosecutors in New York for sex trafficking.

The two were friends throughout the 1980s and 90s, and were frequently photographed together out in the social scene.

Trump flew on Epstein’s plane, dubbed the ‘Lolita Express’ at least four times and once called him a ‘terrific guy.’

‘I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,’ Trump told New York Magazine in 2002. ‘He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.’

However, two years later the pair allegedly had a falling out over a property fight.

During Trump’s first term, the president started to distance himself from the disgraced billionaire.

Trump commented on Epstein from inside the Oval Office back in 2019, when the financier was facing charges for sexual abuse.

‘I had a falling out a long time ago with him,’ Trump said. ‘I don’t think I’ve spoken to him in 15 years.’

‘I wasn’t a fan … I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you,’ Trump added, without directly answering a question about the reason for the falling out.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump vowed that he would release federal government secrets – including the files on Jeffrey Epstein and the investigations on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

As questions continue to pop up over the case in recent months, Trump has called the files ‘boring’ and said he doesn’t understand why people continue to be interested in the case.

‘He’s dead for a long time,’ Trump recently said of the disgraced financier. ‘He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody.’

Donald Trump placated his base on Thursday by instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi to file to unseal the grand jury testimony from the Jeffrey Epstein court case.

DOJ insiders, however, tell the Daily Mail that they don’t think the grand jury testimony will be unsealed.

And legal scholars detail how its unlikely it is that the testimony would yield any bombshell findings.

Grand jury information is only a part of the evidence that makes up the so-called Epstein files. Some insiders detail how search warrants are a key aspect that could hold more substantive answers.

Additionally, the unsealing of grand jury testimony presents a lot of obstacles and is perhaps one of the more difficult pieces of information to unseal in a case considering secrecy rules that many courts are hesitant to lift.

Even after the filing is submitted, it doesn’t mean the documents are coming anytime soon.

Trump’s order to Bondi on Thursday suggests that his attorney general was not already authorized to ask the court to unseal the grand jury materials. And the process can take months or even years.

Donald Trump really does not want his Justice Department to launch an independent review of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

He attempted a maneuver on Thursday night to get his MAGA base off his back by directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to make public Epstein-related grand jury testimony.

Top legal experts said it’s not surprising the White House moved to quash the idea that a special counsel could get to the bottom of the notorious sex trafficker’s network.

They tell the Daily Mail that it would be in the president’s besinterest to avoid a special counsel if he wants to put the scandal behind him.

And if he appoints one, it could make the scandal that he so desperately wants to put behind him worse.

President Donald Trump doesn’t have any public events until this afternoon.

In the meantime, he’s using social media to fire back at a salacious report that he sent Jeffrey Epstein a card with a hand-drawn naked woman as he ordered his DOJ to seek the unsealing of grand jury testimony from the case.

Here’s Trumps’ full schedule for Friday, July 18, according to the White House:

1:30 PM – The president participates in a swearing-in ceremony for the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Billy Long

2:30 PM – The president participates in a Signing Ceremony for the crypto GENIUS Act

7:00 PM – The president participates in a dinner with Republican Senators at the White House

Donald Trump and his supporters are firing back at a salacious report alleging the president drew a naked woman in a letter to Jeffrey Epstein.

But their defense that he didn’t draw it is beginning to unravel as many of the president’s old sketches are now being thrust into the spotlight.

The bombshell report from the Wall Street Journal claims Trump drew Jeffrey Epstein a ‘bawdy’ and topless woman along with a short note.

According to the Journal, the naked woman appeared to have been hand-drawn with a marker, with a pair of arcs indicating the woman’s breasts and a squiggly signature reading ‘Donald’ appearing in her pubic region, mimicking hair.

‘I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,’ Trump told the WSJ. ‘It’s not my language. It’s not my words.’

Donald Trump Jr. came to his father’s defense, claiming The Wall Street Journal report alleging the president wrote Jeffrey Epstein a birthday card is ‘insanity.’

‘My father has a very specific way of speaking. People all over the world have mimicked it for decades,’ the president’s son said.

‘The insanity written in the Wall Street Journal, AIN’T IT and everyone knows it. Also in 47 years I’ve never seen him doodle once. Give me a break with the fake “journalisming.”‘

Steve Bannon, the architect of Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, claimed accusations that the president sent Jeffrey Epstein a salacious letter have united his supporters.

‘We are finally on offense,’ Bannon told CNN. ‘President Trump has had enough and is fighting back – against his real enemies.’

Bannon insisted that newspaper owner Rupert Murdoch has shown his true colors and MAGA supporters will be united.

‘Murdoch showed how much he loathes Trump,’ Bannon said. ‘Murdoch tried to destroy the President and failed – now Trump strikes back.’

Donald Trump said he told Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch that the Jeffrey Epstein birthday card story is fake because he doesn’t draw pictures.

‘The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,’ Trump said on Truth Social Thursday night.

‘I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’

The Republican Accountability Project launched a six-figure ad campaign calling on Trump to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

One 60-second ad features images of the president and the disgraced billionaire together, highlighting their friendship, along with a recent clip of Trump inquiring why people are still discussing the case.

The ad is scheduled to air on Fox News near Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Additionally, billboards will appear near the New Jersey estate, in Washington, DC and in Times Square from July 18 to July 26.

‘Donald Trump is trying to shut this down by ordering Republicans to stop asking questions about the Epstein files,’ said Sarah Longwell, Executive Director of the Republican Accountability Project.

‘But the more he rants, the more Americans want to know what his administration is hiding. Either they were lying for years about the existence of the Epstein files to gin up their base, or they are lying now about their existence. Either way, Americans deserve answers.’

Vice President JD Vance called The Wall Street Journal’s report on a salacious 50th birthday card Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein ‘b******t.’

He slammed the newspaper for not showing the alleged card and insisted they should be ashamed of themselves.

‘Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bullshit. The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it,’ Vance said on X Thursday night.

‘Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?’

Donald Trump claimed on Truth Social that he looks forward to hearing Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch testify when he sues the paper over a report claiming he sent Jeffrey Epstein an X-rated birthday card.

‘I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his “pile of garbage” newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience,’ the president said on Friday.

Career prosecutor Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, received a letter on Wednesday informing her of her sudden termination.

On her way out, she sent one final staff-wide email to her colleagues in the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, urging them to stay strong in the face of a ‘tyrant.’

‘If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,’ she wrote. ‘Do not let that happen.

‘Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.

‘Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns in the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims.’

Dozens of high-profile individuals, including Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Al Gore, Kevin Spacey and Stephen Hawking, have been named throughout the Epstein files.

Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Cameron Diaz, Chris Rock and Bruce Willis are in there along with model Naomi Campbell and magician David Copperfield.

Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, actor Alec Baldwin, George Lucas, Ethel Kennedy, Andrew Cuomo, Heidi Klum and Courtney Love were listed.

Both Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, actor Ralph Fiennes, Alan Dershowitz, John Kerry, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Branson, Noam Chomsky, Donald Trump’s late first wife Ivana, and daughter Ivanka Trump are also included in the filings.

Most of them have not been accused of any involvement in Epstein’s crimes, but Epstein was a name-dropper, according to accuser Johanna Sjoberg.

Some of the people named were associates, friends or victims of Epstein. But the vast majority were named in evidence by witnesses who said they had no links to the pedophile at all, or had not seen them at his many homes.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Thursday that the president has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency.

Leavitt said the president was checked out by his doctor after noticeable ‘swelling’ and revealed that Trump has been diagnosed with the common vein condition.

Earlier this week, Trump, 79, appeared at a White House press gaggle with what appeared to be makeup covering a patch on the back of his hand, sparking concerns.

Part of Donald Trump’s denial that he sent a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein is that: ‘I don’t draw pictures.’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted a six-year-old article from the Washington Post where Trump’s drawing of the New York City skyline was up for auction.

‘I never wrote a picture in my life,’ the Democrat captioned the image in a troll of Trump’s threat to sue the Journal.

Donald Trump claimed there is nothing connecting him to the disgraced billionaire after The Wall Street Journal published a report claiming he wrote him a scandalous birthday card.

‘If there was a “smoking gun” on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the “files” for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it?’ Trump said on Truth Social Friday morning.

‘BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Rep. Andy Fine (R-Fla.) is introducing legislation that would terminate the House of Representative contract with the Wall Street Journal.

Houise offices have subscriptions to most major newspapers so lawmakers and their staff can read all outlets at no cost to themselves.

But Fine thinks the WSJ should no longer be available after publishing an article that claimed President Donald Trump sent a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 with a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman.

President Donald Trump allegedly sent a salacious birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein that included a risqué hand-drawn picture of a naked woman with a cryptic message inside.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump participated in a 50th birthday album organized for the disgraced billionaire by his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The birthday letter included what appears to be Trump’s famous signature and was obtained by the WSJ.

The outline of a naked woman allegedly frames typewritten text which reads: ‘Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.’

According to the Journal, the naked woman appeared to have been hand-drawn with a marker, with a pair of arcs indicating the woman’s breasts and a squiggly signature reading ‘Donald’ appearing in her pubic region, mimicking hair.

Trump vehemently denied any involvement in the drawing or writing of the text.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna vowed that ‘phase three’ of the Epstein files will resulte din a ‘coup.’

The Florida congresswoman in charge of the House Oversight Task Force’s declassification of federal secrets thanked Attorney General Pam Bondi for preparing to request the grand jury testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Depsite the uproar over the botched review, Luna claims that Bondi was ‘quietly’ working behind the scenes to get more information ready for release.

‘This is the most transparent administration in U.S. history,’ she wrote on X.

The Republican shared on a podcast with conservative pundit Benny Johnson that he would like more transparency from the White House surrounding the highly sought after files on the deceased pedophile.

Asked if he would support efforts to have Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell testify before Congress, the speaker said ‘I’m for transparency.’ He also appeared open to Congress issuing subpoenas to the FBI and Department of Justice to force the agencies to turn over any previously undisclosed files.

‘We’re intellectually consistent in this… I trust him (Trump). He put together a team of his choosing and they’re doing a great job,’ the Republican said. ‘It’s a very delicate subject but we should put everything out there and let the people decide.’

‘The White House, and the White House team, are privy to facts that I don’t know. I mean this isn’t my lane, I haven’t been involved in that. But I agree with the sentiment that we need to put it out there.’

Last week’s two-page statement from the Justice Department and the FBI saying they had concluded Epstein did not have a client list roiled Trump’s supporters, who pointed to past statements from several administration officials that the list ought to be revealed.

Bondi had suggested in February such a document was sitting on her desk waiting for review, though last week she said she’d been referring generally to the Epstein case file, not a client list.

Conservative influencers have since demanded to see all the files related to Epstein’s crimes, even as Trump has tried to put the issue to bed.

Far-right commentator Jack Posobiec said at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit on Saturday he wouldn’t rest ‘until we go full January 6 committee on the Jeffrey Epstein files.’

Jeffrey Epstein’s former attorney Alan Dershowitz wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that the late child abuser ‘never created a client’s list.’

Dershowitz said the FBI interviewed Epstein victims who named ‘clients’ whose names have been redacted from the files.

‘They should be disclosed but the courts have ordered them sealed,’ he wrote. ‘I know who they are. They don’t include any current officeholders.’

Dershowitz also said ‘It is clear from the evidence that Epstein committed suicide.’

He added: ‘What isn’t clear is whether he was assisted by jail personnel. That seems likely to me, based on the evidence of allegedly broken cameras, transfer of his cellmate and the absence of guards during relevant time periods.’

Dershowitz appeared on NewsNation‘s CUOMO on Monday and echoed his claims.

‘What there is is a redacted FBI affidavit from accusers,’ the attorney told Chris Cuomo. ‘There are several of them from accusers that accuse Jeffrey, that accuse various people of having improper sex, and that has been redacted. The names of the people accused have been blacked out.’

Dershowitz said some of the people in the affidavit ‘were previously in office. Some of them are dead, but there is no client list.’