President Donald Trump. Politico.
The Wall Street Journal has released a claim that said Donald Trump sent a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Politico. The letter was supposedly part of an album that was sent to Jeffrey Epstein as a gift from his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. The letter supposedly contained a drawing of a naked woman with a typewritten note and a signature of Donald Trump. Epstein has been in the news since Attorney General Pam Bondi closed the case and Trump has shown frustration over the backlash. This report was immediately denounced by Trump and Trump went through with his threat to sue the Wall Street Journal for releasing it. Other pundits have condemned the story.
Trump supposedly wrote:
“Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything,” the note began.
Donald: Yes, there is, but I won’t tell you what it is.
Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is.
Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it.
Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?
Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.
Trump: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.
The original story is paywalled but an archived version of the Wall Steet Journal report can be found
here.
My Comment:
Well, this story appears to have single handedly destroyed any momentum that the Epstein controversy had. This is an absolutely ridiculous story that, even if it was true, is not damaging to Trump in any way. But there are serious doubts that this story is even true.
For one thing, I can't imagine President Donald Trump sounds anything like this. Trump has never been an eloquent man and this note reads like erotic fan fiction. Indeed, it doesn't sound like a man wrote this at all, as it reads to me as absurdly feminine. Men don't call each other enigmas or say that every day should be another "wonderful secret". No straight man writes like that and Donald Trump certainly doesn't. The chances that Trump wrote that little poem himself is almost certainly close to zero. Nothing in his life tells me he's the kind of person that would write like that under any circumstances. Even Elon Musk, who has been very critical of Trump about Epstein and is responsible for much of the outrage, says it sounds nothing like him
I guess it's possible that Trump's assistant or someone wrote the thing and the story has some legitimacy, but even then, it's not damaging. The letter supposedly happened in 2003, long before anyone knew that Epstein was a criminal. There is no admission of guilt or anything that even suggests criminal behavior. And other than making Trump sound effeminate, there is nothing about it that is new, Trump's always been a cad. Him signing a fruity letter with a hand drawn picture to Epstein before anyone knew what he was, does not change my opinion of him at all, though I doubt it is at all real.
It does explain why Trump has been surly about this issue ever since Pam Bondi closed the case. Trump's actions were confusing a lot of people as nobody could understand why he was upset why folks were focusing on the issue. Well, I guess we know why now. He knew this story was coming, as he was quoted in the story, and wanted to get in front of it. And a lot of Trump's critics on the right look pretty ridiculous now.
But even then, I can't understand why this story is supposed to matter. Everyone already knew that Trump and Epstein knew each other socially in the early 2000's, and everyone knew that the relationship ended as soon as Trump knew what Epstein was. There have never been any credible accusations of wrongdoing for Trump when it comes to Epstein and he was indeed helpful to the criminal investigation against him.
Given that Trump is now going to release the last real files in the Epstein case (assuming that the judge signs off) and this story landed like a lead balloon, I am guessing that this whole frenzy that has dominated social media for the last couple of weeks will quickly fade away. And it's not like it was really damaging to Trump in the first place. Though a few folks were extremely loud about the files, Trump's approval rating actually went up since the story exploded, according to recent polling.
I am not expecting any real new evidence in the sealed Grand Jury documents, as I honestly don't think there are any real revelations left. It's just going to be repeats of what the victims have said publically and perhaps more graphic descriptions of what Epstein did. There isn't going to be a smoking gun that "blows the whole thing open".
Finally, I have to say that this whole thing was an ordeal for me. As someone that has followed the story since 2015, it's been insane how misinformed or deluded people have been. Some of those folks were just Trump haters, the folks that will actually try and hype this story as if it's at all believable. But many of them were folks that should have absolutely known better.
As much as I would like to see perp-walks in this case, given that many of the main players, including Jeffrey Epstein, Marvin Minsky, Bill Richardson and Jean-Luc Brunel are dead. The main witness, Virginia Giuffre, is dead. And given the lack of evidence for many of the accusations, there wasn't ever going to be any further arrests, let alone convictions. I would have liked to see Prince Andrew, at least, facing the music, but with Giuffre dead, there is no chance of that now. Folks absolutely should have known this and the demands for other outcomes were never realistic in any way.
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