US President Donald Trump sues Wall Street Journal, demands $10 billion in damages: All you need to know about the Epstein files controversy

US President Donald Trump has sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for defamation. The development comes after the newspaper published an articlefor their latest article implicating him in the life of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, saying it is false and politically damaging.

The suit was filed in a Miami federal court on Friday (18th July) a day after Trump openly threatened litigation. The WSJ released a bombshell report on Thursday (17th July), which said that Trump wrote a birthday letter to Epstein in 2003 with a hand-drawn portrait of a naked woman and alluded to a “secret” that the two men shared. The article suggested a common interest between Trump and Epstein, the deceased financier who had been accused of using underage girls for sex.

Outraged by the article, Trump attacked the newspaper on his social media platform Truth Social, labeling the report a “scam” and the letter “fake.” Trump accused WSJ’s editor Emma Tucker of purposefully releasing false content and threatened to “sue the ass off” Murdoch and the publication. The lawsuit claims at least $10 billion in damages, claiming reputational damage and political consequences.

I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” Trump said in his internet posting, denying he wrote the letter. But some media immediately added that Trump had previously drawn sketches for fund-raising events.

Epstein files: A political headache for Trump administration

This suit is merely one aspect of the larger Epstein scandal that still shadows Trump’s second term in the White House. The Epstein files, sealed investigative reports on Jeffrey Epstein’s purported wrongdoings have been of public interest for many years, particularly among Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base who have called for full disclosure.

When Trump came back to the White House in January 2025, he and Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed transparency and indicated that they would release all of Epstein’s materials, including what many thought was a “client list” of influential individuals who were part of Epstein’s trafficking ring.

But that vow seems to have disintegrated. Earlier in the month, the Justice Department made public a memo saying there was no such list of clients and no proof of blackmail of well-known people. The memo was unsigned and merely declared that the case was closed, an action that incensed many conservatives expecting some form of accountability.

Tucker Carlson, a former stalwart Trump supporter, expressed disillusionment at a student summit on 11th July, stating, “The government I voted for told me to shut up and stop asking questions.” Conservative activist Charlie Kirk reiterated the disillusionment, sharing that when he asked a group of 7,000 people if the Epstein case was still relevant, all hands went up.

The pushback was so harsh that Trump had no choice but to react. On 12th July, he instructed his supporters not to “waste time and energy” on the Epstein documents, which led some pundits, such as Dinesh D’Souza, to shift their tone and tell their supporters to move on. But the flip only created more speculations: Was Trump attempting to cover something up? Was his name on the very list he had previously vowed to publish?

Asked by journalists whether Attorney General Bondi had read his name in the Epstein documents, Trump simply replied “no” and blamed the controversy on a conspiracy by former officials like James Comey and Barack Obama, a claim with no clear basis.

What are the Epstein files?

“Epstein files” consist of investigative files, records, videos, and contacts collated by federal agencies while investigating Epstein’s criminal enterprise. They are said to contain flight logs from Epstein’s private aircraft, contact lists, accounting records, and even video evidence of abuse.

Attorney General Pam Bondi released the initial batch of redacted documents in February 2025, including flight records and contact lists. She asserted that more would be released after review to shield victims’ identities. Bondi even stated that one time a client list was “sitting on my desk” to be reviewed.

But by July, the memo of the Justice Department made a stark U-turn. It asserted there was no incriminating client list and no reliable proof of blackmail, an explicit contradiction of what had been intimated before by Bondi and Trump himself. The memo asserted the case was closed and that the public should not anticipate further revelations.

That gesture has fueled public distrust. Some now think Trump’s previous friendship with Epstein, they were spotted together at social gatherings in the 1990s and early 2000s and Trump was listed on Epstein’s flight logs at least seven times is the reason the administration suddenly closed the files.

Lawyer of Epstein prior to his death, David Schoen, confirmed that Trump had denied any incriminating evidence against him. However, with the lack of transparency, speculations are increasing.

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