MAGA comes to Trump's defense on Epstein after WSJ turmoil
Influential figures in the MAGA realm who have pushed the administration to release more documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case are coming to President Trump’s defense after The Wall Street Journal reported that the commander-in-chief allegedly sent a lewd letter to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender over 20 years ago.
The Journal reported on Thursday about an alleged letter the president sent to Epstein in 2003 for his 50th birthday. The letter, a copy of which was not featured in the piece, reportedly has text framed by the outline of a naked woman and features the line “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump has denied writing the letter. The president sued the Journal the next day in federal court, demanding billions of dollars in damages.
“This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,” the president said on Truth Social.
Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who last week called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to review the Epstein files, said on his “War Room” show Friday, “In fact, we made the recommendations that are the best for President Trump in this movement, which is President Trump is best when it's attack, attack, attack. This is the deep state. This is the ruling class in America. They're trying to use it to destroy President Trump."
On the podcast, Bannon asked MAGA podcaster and influencer Jack Posobiec, “Where are we in all of this, sir?"
“We're so back. Look. Everyone is firing on all cylinders. The MAGA movement is completely united behind this fight right now,” Posobiec said.
Conservative commentator and host Megyn Kelly, who has called out Trump supporters who deferred to the administration's posture on the Epstein controversy, said the Journal article on Thursday was the “dumbest attempted hit piece I’ve ever read.”
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, whose relationship with Trump soured in recent months amid a public fallout, said the “letter sounds bogus.”
Hours after the Journal article was published, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release relevant grand jury testimony in the Epstein case.
The order from Trump was welcomed by MAGA as parts of the base have expressed deep dissatisfaction with the administration following last week’s release of an unnamed joint DOJ and FBI memo, stating that Epstein did not keep the so-called “client list” and that he died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial.
After Trump issued the order to Bondi on Thursday night, Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on the social media platform X that it was a “major move. Let’s go!”
The DOJ followed through on Friday, filing a pair of nearly identical motions to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, requesting to unseal the grand jury transcripts. The DOJ said it would shield the names of potential victims and “personal identifying information” prior to releasing the transcript. The release of grand jury transcripts is rare due to sensitive information, but not impossible.
Right-wing activist Laura Loomer, an ardent supporter of Trump, slammed the former chairman of News Corp Rupert Murdoch and argued that the president should “cut him off” forever. News Corp owns the Journal.
“Rupert Murdoch should never be allowed to have access to Donald Trump ever again. He's a slime ball. He's a liar and he obviously tried to weaponize his News Corp to, and his media platform, very wealthy, multi-billion-dollar media platform, to assassinate the character of President Trump, because he was not successful in assassinating President Trump's 2024 presidential election,” Loomer said Friday while on Bannon’s “War Room” show.
Trump bashed GOP voters earlier this week for being overly focused on the Epstein case and told his supporters that they should move on to other issues. The president also wondered why the Democratic Party lawmakers did not call for the release of the Epstein files while they controlled the White House and had the majority in the Senate.
“If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had [former Attorney General Merrick] Garland and [ex-prosecutor Maureen] Comey in charge, use it,” Trump said Friday on Truth Social, adding “BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!”
Despite the administration's push to release the grand jury testimony, Trump said on Saturday it will likely not be enough to please the “troublemakers and radical left lunatics.”