Trump vs Rupert Murdoch: Why POTUS is threatening to sue media mogul over WSJ's Epstein story

Trump blasted WSJ's Epstein story as "fake news," threatened to sue Murdoch, NewsCorp, and WSJ, claiming he told them the Epstein birthday letter was fake.

President Donald Trump threatened to sue Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch for a story on his Epstein links done by the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal on Thursday. In a Truth Social post, Trump slammed the report, calling it "fake news" and threatened to sue the WSJ, NewsCorp and Murdoch "shortly."

FILE - Rupert Murdoch introduces Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the Herman Kahn Award Gala on Oct. 30, 2019, in New York. The Delaware judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News announced late Sunday, April 16, that he was delaying the start of the trial until Tuesday, April 18. The trial had been scheduled to start Monday morning with jury selection and opening statements. Fox News stars Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity and founder Murdoch are among the people expected to testify over the next few weeks. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) (AP)

The WSJ report published an alleged letter that Epstein's friends sent to him on his 50th birthday in 2003, which contains a "bawdy" signature of Donald Trump. In his Truth Social post, Trump said that the WSJ went ahead with the story despite him telling the WSJ, and Rupert Murdoch "personally" that the letter is fake.

"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," Trump said in the Truth Social post.

"Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so. 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.

"President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly."

WSJ's new report on Trump-Epstein links

The Wall Street Journal's report was based on a leather album on Epstein first compiled by investigators ahead of his first arrest in 2006. Among other things, the album contained an alleged letter addressed to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003 and signed by his friends, including Donald Trump.

In the message, allegedly signed by Trump, there is a typewritten text of an imaginary conversation between Epstein and Trump, which is placed inside the figure of a naked woman drawn using a marker. Trump's signature is in the place of the figure's pubic hair.

The report also had an interview with Trump about the letter in which he said that it is fake. “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women," Trump said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my word.”