US President Donald Trump File photo: VCG

The US President's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender who died in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks. 

Trump on Friday took legal action less than 24 hours after The Wall Street Journal published an article saying Trump sent a letter to Epstein in 2003 that included a drawing of a naked woman, multiple media reported.

The lawsuit, which seeks at least $10 billion in damages and a jury trial, names the Journal's parent company, News Corp.; its publisher, Dow Jones; two reporters for the newspaper; News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch, and chief executive Robert Thomson, as the defendants, NBC News reported.

The US president claimed the publication slandered him and violated libel laws in an article alleging that a birthday greeting bearing Trump's name was sent to Epstein in 2003, before he was charged with sex crimes.  The president claimed the note, which the paper reported he had sent for Epstein's 50th birthday is "fake."

"We have just filed a powerhouse Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, fake news 'article' in the useless 'rag' that is, The Wall Street Journal.

"I hope Rupert and his 'friends' are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case," Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

The WSJ story, published on Thursday, uncovered a birthday album for Epstein's 50th birthday, in 2003, by Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, at one time Epstein's girlfriend, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring in his abuse of minors, the Hill reported. 

The birthday album, the WSJ reported, included a "bawdy" letter "bearing Trump's name." The letter included a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, and some lines of text concluding "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret."  

Yet the outlet described the contents of the letter but did not publish a photo showing it entirely or provide details on how it came to learn about it.  

Trump wrote soon after the story was published, "These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures." There has, however, been at least one example of a Trump picture - a basic sketch of the New York skyline - being sold off for charity."

A spokesperson for Dow Jones, WSJ's parent company, said in a statement: "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit," according to CNN. 

According to CNN, legal experts consulted said they could not recall any past instances of a sitting president suing a news outlet over a story. Trump filed several suits in 2024 while he was running for reelection. In March of that year, he sued ABC, claiming George Stephanopoulos and ABC News defamed him when the anchor repeatedly said on air that a jury found Trump had "raped" E. Jean Carroll.

The US president's lawsuit against WSJ came shortly after the Justice Department asked a federal court on Friday to unseal grand jury transcripts in Epstein's sex trafficking case, as the administration seeks to contain the firestorm that erupted after it announced that it would not be releasing additional files from the case, despite previously pledging to do so, PBS reported Saturday.

The controversy has also created a major fissure between Trump and his loyal base, with some of his most vocal supporters slamming the White House for the way it has handled the case, and questioning why Trump would not want the documents made public.