Trump's Trials - Trump threatens to sue 'Wall Street Journal' over article about his Epstein ties

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

The controversy surrounding President Trump and the so-called Epstein files has moved back to the legal system as he threatens to sue The Wall Street Journal and wants some case files released. NPR's Stephen Fowler reports.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detro and this is Trump's Terms from NPR. We're going to be doing all sorts of things nobody ever thought was even possible. President Trump has brought back strength to the White House. We can't just ignore the president's desires. This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode we bring you one of NPR's latest stories about the 47th president and how he is trying to remake the federal government. Today's story starts right after this.

I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Steve Inskeep. President Trump's effort to silence talk about the Epstein files doesn't seem to be working. Last night, the Wall Street Journal published an article describing what it said was a sexually suggestive note that Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. This is before Epstein was first arrested for sexually abusing girls. Trump's ties to Epstein, the financier who faced sex trafficking charges before dying by suicide in federal custody, have rocked the president this week. Last night, Trump responded swiftly, threatening to sue the Wall Street Journal over the story and strongly denying the allegations.

He called the letter fake. He also directed Attorney General Pam Bonney to seek release of some of the files related to Epstein's criminal sex trafficking case and insists continued questions about the investigations are a, quote, scam. NPR's Stephen Fowler has been covering this story. Stephen, good morning. Good morning. Okay.

We got to begin with the Wall Street Journal story. What do they report? This exclusive claims that Trump sent a letter for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003 that included a drawing of a naked woman with the signature Donald below the waist, part of a leather bound collection of letters from Epstein's friends and family.

The letter supposedly concludes happy birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret. NPR has not independently confirmed that story. Yeah, and I guess we should note that the journal has not published an image of this letter, but there's a description and the journal says that they have reviewed the letter. How's the president responding? Well, he said in an interview for the article on Tuesday, quote, I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women." And in that interview, plus several truth social posts, Trump is threatening a lawsuit.

The post said, among other things, that, quote, the press has to learn to be truthful, and that Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Wall Street Journal parent company News Corp, said he would take care of it. But since the story published, Trump said that he was, quote, going to sue his you-know-what off Steve. Um, okay. Interesting. Uh, but Trump is now asking his attorney general to release something related to the Epstein case. What's going on now?

Well, after Trump threatened the wall street journal, he made another post that said, quote, 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. So up until a week ago, Bondi and other Trump administration officials were the ones pushing claims that there were files to be released exposing the truth about the life and death of the convicted sex trafficker. What Trump is asking Bondi to do is probably not the Epstein files people may be expecting or hoping for.

Now, Bondi said she would be prepared to move in court to have these documents released. They will likely have redactions to protect privacy of victims in the case and likely not have very much in the way of new information. Steve and I have one other question and it has to do with the president's effort to make this story stop. Did he know the Wall Street Journal was coming as he insulted his own supporters and tried to get them to stop talking about it? Well, here's the timing thing.

Trump's interview with the journal supposedly came Tuesday, the very next day when Trump knew this story was in the works. That's when he called supporters who questioned the narrative around Epstein's death and called for transparency, quote, stupid and foolish, and falsely claimed the Epstein files was a hoax perpetrated by Democrats. So a lot of the bad news cycle has been influenced and increased by the president's own action here. And there's also polling that shows in general, the public doesn't coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down

the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsored messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detro. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR. How are you choosing to live? On autopilot or with intention? The way you think you should or the way you want to? I'm Mariel Segarra, host of the Life Kit Podcast. Each episode is like a mini guidebook para tu vida. So you can manage time, money, fitness, amor, and other life things on your terms. Listen to the Life Kit podcast from NPR. Hey everybody, it's Ian from How to Do Everything. On our show, we attempt to answer your how-to questions.

We don't know how to do anything, so we call experts. Last season, both Tom Hanks and Martha Stewart stopped by to help. Our next season is launching in just a few months, so get us your questions now by emailing howto at npr.org or calling 1-800-424-2935.