'A stunning blow': Trump's defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal just hit a major snag with revelation of Jeffrey Epstein birthday letter, legal expert says

After the Wall Street Journal reported successful July that Donald Trump sent and signed a "bawdy" 50th day missive to observe infamous intersexual predator Jeffrey Epstein successful 2003, the president moved rapidly to record a $20 cardinal defamation suit that called the missive successful question some "nonexistent" and a "fake." On Monday, the House Oversight Committee released photograph grounds of the alleged Epstein "birthday book," which it received from Epstein's property successful response to a subpoena — and the papers dump included the evident Trump missive, among many different letters, a fig of them lewd.

Though the White House has said Trump volition "aggressively" proceed "litigation," a starring defamation instrumentality adept tells Law&Crime that the improvement was really "a stunning blow" for Trump's claims and an "enormous" boost for WSJ's defense.

Recall that successful mid-July anticipation grew arsenic rumor had it that an explosive WSJ story would shed further airy connected Trump's relationship with Epstein, whom helium partied with astatine Mar-a-Lago successful the 1990s and praised successful 2002 arsenic a "terrific guy" with a noted involvement successful "beautiful women" connected the "younger side" — 3 years earlier Epstein was archetypal investigated successful Palm Beach for sexually abusing young girls. The WSJ nonfiction claimed the "bawdy" missive included a drafting of an outline of a bare woman's assemblage with "Donald" signed "below her waist" seemingly "mimicking pubic hair," and a "typewritten enactment styled arsenic an imaginary speech betwixt Trump and Epstein, written successful the 3rd idiosyncratic — with the enactment "Happy Birthday — and whitethorn each time beryllium different fantastic secret."

Trump threatened to writer the WSJ anterior to the publication, past instantly sued the adjacent time successful the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In that lawsuit, Trump lawyer Alejandro Brito alleged that reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo made it each up and that the impervious the missive was "nonexistent" was their inability oregon refusal to people the missive itself oregon explicate however they got their hands connected it:

Indeed, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo supply a bid of quotes from the nonexistent letter, claiming that the missive was written successful 3rd person, opening with a dependable implicit interluding a conversation, followed by a purported dialog betwixt President Trump and Epstein—as if they were characters successful a play.

On the 1 hand, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo falsely walk disconnected as fact that President Trump, successful 2003, wrote, drew, and signed this letter. And connected the different hand, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo failed to connect the letter, failed to connect the alleged drawing, failed to amusement impervious that President Trump authored oregon signed immoderate specified letter, and failed to explicate however this purported missive was obtained. The crushed for those failures is due to the fact that nary authentic missive oregon drafting exists. Defendants concocted this communicative to malign President Trump's quality and integrity and deceptively represent him successful a mendacious light.

Consider that, besides successful July, Vice President JD Vance explained that the crushed Trump sued is that WSJ published its archetypal communicative without a photograph of the letter.

"[I]t's bogus for the WSJ to people a deed portion without showing america the letter. I person nary thought if the publication exists—WSJ won't amusement it to us. I person nary thought if the missive exists—WSJ won't amusement it to us. What I find absurd is the thought that Donald Trump was penning poems to Epstein, and I find it arsenic absurd that a large American insubstantial would onslaught the President of the United States without revealing the ground for the attack," Vance said. "We each cognize what's going to happen. They're going to dribble small details retired for days oregon weeks successful an effort to assassinate the president's character. They won't amusement america this publication oregon let america to refute it until they've wrung each spot of fake quality retired of the story. And everyone volition conscionable determination connected from the information that the WSJ is acting similar a Democrat SuperPAC. It's disgraceful, and it's wherefore the president sued."

While the suit has mostly gone quiet since, the House Oversight Committee's papers merchandise Monday included a photograph of a missive that matches WSJ's archetypal report, which renowned First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams tells Law&Crime is an "enormous" boon for WSJ's defence and "a stunning blow" for Trump.

"The nationalist revelation by the House Oversight Committee of a missive to Jeffrey Epstein seemingly written and signed by Donald Trump is an tremendous measurement guardant successful the Wall Street Journal's defence of the libel suit filed by Trump and a stunning stroke to Trump's claim," Abrams, begetter of Law&Crime laminitis Dan Abrams, said successful an email, noting that the "single missing constituent successful the Journal's archetypal — and present afloat validated — portion was the lack of the Trump missive itself."

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"Now we person it and his denials are adjacent little credible than previously," helium said.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated successful a connection that, adjacent though the day publication included letters from Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz and Les Wexner, among others, the Trump missive is fake and the WSJ's latest reporting including the representation is "false" and "FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!"

"The latest portion published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this full 'Birthday Card' communicative is false. As I person said each along, it's precise wide President Trump did not gully this picture, and helium did not motion it," Leavitt said. "President Trump's ineligible squad volition proceed to aggressively prosecute litigation."

Law&Crime reached retired to Trump lawyer Brito to inquire if litigation will, indeed, continue, but nary effect was instantly forthcoming.

Notably, erstwhile Trump's erstwhile transgression defence lawyer turned Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed convicted Epstein accomplice and enactment trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell down bars successful July, she said she "never" saw "gentleman" Trump enactment inappropriately with anyone. At the aforesaid time, Maxwell said it was "true" that she enactment unneurotic the Epstein 50th "birthday book" and claimed she did not retrieve a Trump letter.

"While we're connected this topic, conscionable — and again, I cognize we're jumping astir and we've been going connected it for a while, truthful I apologize," Blanche said, "But there's precocious been reports astir a day publication that you assembled for Mr. Epstein, I think, for his 50th day successful 2003."

"That's true," Maxwell replied.

"What bash you cognize astir that?" Blanche asked.

Maxwell explained that she got the thought from her mother, who enactment unneurotic a day publication for Ghislaine's begetter Robert Maxwell's 60th birthday.

"And erstwhile I — Epstein would speech astir his 50th, helium said, I don't cognize what I'm going to do. And I said, well, these are bully things, my ma did this publication for my dad. He said, I emotion that idea. He said, tin you assistance coordinate it? And helium organized who — helium called a batch of the radical himself," Maxwell said. "I coordinated the putting unneurotic of the book. And immoderate — successful immoderate instances, I called radical that asked them to contribute."

Maxwell further said that the "ask" of day publication letter-writers was "say thing you privation connected a portion of paper."

As Blanche continued probing astir whether Maxwell specifically remembered Trump "submitting a missive oregon a paper oregon a note," Maxwell said "I don't" and that she didn't person immoderate recollection of a "picture of a bare pistillate oregon thing similar that," arsenic Blanche enactment it successful his question.

At different constituent during the interview, Blanche asked astir the "birthday book" again and Maxwell again said she didn't retrieve asking Trump to taxable a missive but suggested it was imaginable Epstein himself asked Trump to bash so.

"I did inquire immoderate people. I don't retrieve Mr. Trump. I don't retrieve who I did ask, but Epstein besides asked radical himself directly," Maxwell said. "So it could person happened that way, if it happened astatine all."