JD Vance dissects exactly how the WSJ's attempts to 'assassinate' Trump's character with Epstein will blow up
The vice president responded on social media to MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes who pointed to a New York Times story adding more details about the reported 'book' of messages collected by famous people to mark Epstein's 50th birthday.
The Wall Street Journal report claimed Trump wrote a 'bawdy' 50th birthday card to Epstein, which concluded: 'Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret,' and featured a hand-drawn image of a naked woman as well as his signature.
The New York Times added reporting that Trump's name appeared on the contributor list for the reported book of messages to Epstein, although they conceded 'the Times has not reviewed the letter that reportedly bears Mr. Trump's signature.
Hayes challenged Vance to clarify whether he believed the book of letters existed and if so, whether the Trump letter existed.
'I have no idea if the book exists--WSJ won't show it to us. I have no idea if the letter exists--WSJ won't show it to us,' Vance replied, adding it was 'bogus' for the Wall Street Journal to report a 'hit piece' about the 'letter' without showing the White House a copy.
Vance called the idea that Trump was writing poems to Epstein 'absurd' and that it was 'equally absurd' that the Wall Street Journal would not reveal the letter in question.
'We all know what's going to happen. They're going to dribble little details out for days or weeks in an effort to assassinate the president's character,' Vance wrote. 'They won't show us this book or allow us to refute it until they've wrung every bit of fake news out of the story.'
The Wall Street Journal has not yet addressed why it hasn't presented evidence of the card to the White House.
Vance said the Wall Street Journal was 'acting like a Democratic SuperPAC' to attack the president.
'It's disgraceful, and it's why the president sued,' he concluded.
The report drew immediate condemnation from the White House as the president decried it as a 'fake' and berated the Journal for publishing the story.
President Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, calling the story 'false, malicious, and defamatory.'
'The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it,' Vance wrote on social media, questioning why the Journal could not show the president a copy of the letter.
'Doesn't it violate some rule of journalistic ethics to publish a letter like this without showing it to the victim of this hit piece?' he asked.
During the homestretch of the 2024 presidential campaign, Vance agreed with calls to release the Epstein list, calling it 'an important thing.'
As a senator, Vance also publicly called for the release of the Epstein files.
'If you're a journalist and you're not asking questions about this case you should be ashamed of yourself,' Vance wrote about the Epstein case in 2021. 'What purpose do you even serve?'
At that point, Vance said that he thought about the Epstein case 'about once a month.'
'Remember when we learned that our wealthiest and most powerful people were connected to a guy who ran a literal child sex trafficking ring? And then that guy died mysteriously in a jail? And now we just don't talk about it,' he wrote in September 2021, sharing an article published by The Week.
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