Epstein, Trump, a birthday letter and a lawsuit: Everything you need to know

Six years after his death, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is again in the spotlight, this one cast by President Donald Trump’s unrelenting MAGA base.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 and found dead in his cell at a jail in New York City just five weeks later. Investigators concluded that he killed himself while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, but there have long been whispers that something more nefarious occurred.

Many of the president’s most ardent red hat-wearing supporters have cried conspiracy in the years since, suggesting that Epstein was actually murdered in a bid to protect wealthy and prominent people involved in his alleged crimes.

The theory further suggests the existence of a “client list” within the government’s trove of documents dubbed the “Epstein files.” The notion plays on Trump’s vows to dismantle the “deep state,” which refers to an alleged secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes.

However, members of the Make America Great Again movement have found their trust in Trump beginning to waver in recent weeks, particularly over of his handling of the files. The president’s hesitation to release them has also sparked questions about his relationship with Epstein.

Trump has already appeared in legal documents concerning the late billionaire, but never in a way that implicates him in any crime.

Here’s what you need to know about the ongoing saga:

—The controversy

During the 2024 presidential campaign, when asked on Fox News if he would declassify the Epstein files, Trump said, “Yeah, yeah I would.” His attorney general, Pam Bondi, seemingly supported the notion in February, intimating in a separate Fox News interview that the files were “sitting on (her) desk right now to review.”

Shortly thereafter, the Justice Department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations.

Then, earlier this month the Trump administration appeared to perform its first pivot on the matter with a memo saying Epstein had in fact committed suicide. It also declared, after a lengthy review of all available evidence, that there is “no incriminating client list” or proof the financier blackmailed prominent people as part of his alleged actions.

The Justice Department further noted that no more files related to the case — other than a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself — would be made public.

Amid the subsequent backlash from his supporters, Trump took to his platform, Truth Social, in a bid to quell his base, accusing former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, of making up such documents.

“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?'” Trump wrote last weekend. “They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.”

On Wednesday, he blasted Democrats for creating a “new SCAM” that “we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” while deriding some of his own loyalists for demanding he order the release of the files.

—The firing of Maurene Comey

Also on Wednesday, the Justice Department fired Maurene Comey from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she most recently led the prosecution of Sean “Diddy” Combs. He was found guilty on two counts of transporting people to engage in prostitution, but acquitted on the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

Comey — the daughter of former FBI director James Comey — also successfully prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty of sex trafficking in 2021 for helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls. Comey’s cases also included the one against Epstein himself, but he died before he could stand trial.

Asked about the prosecutor’s firing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “This was a decision made by the Department of Justice.”

No further details were provided, but some have speculated that Comey’s family tree might have something to do with her sudden dismissal. The president’s relationship with her father was strained from the start, with Trump firing him amid an investigation into potential ties between Russia and his presidential campaign.

In a note to her colleagues on Thursday, Comey said that her firing should fuel “a fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power.” She also encouraged “dedication to truth above all else.”

“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” Comey said. “Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.”

—Trump’s birthday letter

A day after Comey’s firing, The Wall Street Journal reported on a collection of letters gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, one of them allegedly written by Trump. The note apparently included a drawing of a naked woman with his signature written across her waist in a way that appeared to mimic pubic hair.

“A pal is a wonderful thing,” Trump wrote to Epstein, per the WSJ. “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

In a phone interview with the Journal ahead of the exposé, Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the picture, saying, “I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” He also told the Journal he would prepare a lawsuit if the “fake” story was published.

Vice President JD Vance also rushed to Trump’s defense, calling the Journal’s reporting “complete and utter bulls–t” before questioning the legitimacy of the letter.

“Where is this letter?” he wrote on social media. “Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”

—Motion to release jury records

Following the publication of the Journal’s story, Trump said he would tell Bondi to release some files from Epstein’s criminal case — though not the full court records.

“I have asked the Justice Department to release all grand jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to court approval,” he announced. “With that being said, and even if the court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more.”

The Department of Justice on Friday obliged and filed a motion for the grand jury files related to Epstein’s 2019 indictment to be unsealed, “subject to appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying information.”

However, the transcripts will likely do little to quell the questions bubbling up from Trump’s base, as he has still yet to order the release of the DOJ files pertaining to Epstein.

—Trump sues the Wall Street Journal for billions

Within hours of the Justice Department filing its motion, Trump followed through on his threats to sue The Wall Street Journal, filing a defamation suit in Miami federal court. It lists Dow Jones & Company, News Corp, owner Rupert Murdoch and reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo as the plaintiffs. Trump is seeking billions of dollars in damages.

“Despite the glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting, Defendants Dow Jones and News Corp — at the direction of Defendants Murdoch and (CEO Robert) Thomson — published to the world the false, defamatory and malignant statements authored by Defendants,” the lawsuit reads.

Trump has previously sued several prominent news outlets, including The Des Moines Register, ABC News and CBS.