Is Trump’s Flip-Flop on Epstein Files Enough to Appease His Base?

After facing enormous pressure from his base, Donald Trump has ordered the Justice Department to release additional details pertaining to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The offering was, apparently, more than enough to get a chunk of far-right influencers back on his side.

By Friday morning, conservatives on X were abuzz, trying to find any reason to dismiss a Wall Street Journal report that Trump allegedly penned a salacious letter to Epstein more than two decades ago for the financier’s 50th birthday.

Self-described “theocratic fascist” Matt Walsh wrote on X that the letter, which was reportedly requested by Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, “screams fake.”

“The writing doesn’t sound like Trump at all,” Walsh claimed. Hours earlier, Walsh had insisted that Trump’s efforts to shed his Epstein-conscious base by deriding them as “weaklings” and as “stupid” and “naive” was the “number one way to make sure that I keep talking about the subject.”

Laura Loomer, who earlier this month had called on Trump to throw his attorney general out of the government for her role in the reprised scandal, was similarly busy defending the president by Friday morning.

“I’m calling bullshit on this Trump ‘birthday letter’ to Epstein. It’s totally fake. Everyone who actually KNOWS President Trump knows he doesn’t type letters. He writes notes in big black Sharpie,” Loomer insisted. “Trust me, I would know.”

The Journal reported that the drawing of a nude woman that framed Trump’s letter was done in Sharpie. His signature on the note, which was scrawled between the woman’s legs and resembled pubic hair, was also done in Sharpie.

And Elon Musk, who plainly accused Trump of delaying the release of the Epstein files on the basis that the MAGA leader was implicated in them, elevated a script from his AI chatbot Grok that claimed the Journal reporting was “most likely fake.” Grok cited Trump’s “strong denial” of the story and his threat to sue the newspaper and its owner Rupert Murdoch over the letter’s publication.

But not everyone on the right was sold by Trump’s meager offering.

“Last week, the Dept of Justice claimed the Epstein Files don’t exist but they’re also a Democrat hoax, and there is nothing in them except child sex abuse material,” wrote white supremacist, Hitler fan, and far-right political pundit Nick Fuentes. “Now the DOJ, under public pressure, is going to unseal grand jury testimony? Not buying it.”

On Thursday, Fuentes thoroughly mocked Trump as “fat,” “a joke,” “stupid,” and “not funny,” and said that “the liberals were right” and that the country would “look back at MAGA movement as the biggest scam in history.”

Donald Trump and JD Vance clearly didn’t take the time to get their story straight about the president’s lewd 50th birthday letter to alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that in 2003, Trump penned Epstein a “bawdy” note inside of a doodle of a voluptuous woman as part of a book of birthday notes for the financier. The president wrote that he had “certain things in common” with the child sex offender, and wished his “pal” that “everyday may be a wonderful secret.”

Trump and his team leapt to discredit the reporting—but unfortunately, they didn’t all jump the same way.

Vance took to X to defend Trump, claiming that the president’s team hadn’t even laid eyes on the letter before it was published.

“Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bullshit. The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it,” Vance wrote. “Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”

“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?” Vance wrote in a separate post. “Will the people who have bought into every hoax against President Trump show an ounce of skepticism before buying into this bizarre story?”

But Trump went a different route, claiming that he’d personally warned the publication that he’d sue them if they published the “false, malicious, and defamatory” story.

“The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

So which was it? Was the Trump administration completely blindsided by the publication of the letter, or did Trump get enough advance warning to personally threaten them with a lawsuit if they published it? And why go to such lengths to prevent publication if the letter is so obviously fake?

This latest controversy comes amid a firestorm for the Trump administration, as the MAGA horde have demanded more transparency on the so-called Epstein files, after the Justice Department published a memo claiming that the sex criminal kept no incriminating client list. Trump’s attorney general had previously claimed to have that very list sitting on her desk. The mishap has Trump so thoroughly backed into a corner that he’s begun claiming that the so-called Epstein files are a hoax created by Democrats, and seething at his supporters for caring about the files at all.

It’s worth noting that Vance’s complaint that the letter doesn’t “sound” like Trump falls completely flat. After all, the note came just one year after Trump was quoted in a 2002 New York Magazine profile of Epstein, calling him a “terrific guy.”

“He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life,” Trump said at the time.

Trump’s attorney later claimed that the two had “no relationship.”

The Wall Street Journal on Thursday evening reported that President Trump sent a 50th birthday letter to infamous predator Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, containing a signed sketch of a naked woman and the ominous caption, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump denied that the letter was actually him, on the grounds that he had “never wrote a picture” in his life. 

“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,” Trump said on Truth Social Thursday night. “I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper. Thank you for your attention to this matter!  DJT”

That is an outright lie. At least five of the president’s own sketches were auctioned off between 1995 and 2020, suggesting that he had an obvious affinity for drawing. In 2005, a very rudimentary drawing he did of the New York City skyline sold for $30,000. In 2006, another basic sketch was auctioned off, this time of the George Washington Bridge. In 2017, his sketch of the Empire State Building was auctioned off for $16,000. And in 2020, his “Money Tree” drawing sold for $8,500. The president has “wrote” many a picture, poking a gaping hole in his defense against the Journal’s reporting. 

The Journal report also detailed a strange dialogue-style note Trump left in the birthday letter to Epstein, written in the third person.

“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. 

Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.

This all comes as the president desperately tries to make his base, and the mainstream, forget about Epstein and his deep ties to him. But the deeper he tries to bury it, the more that seems to come to the surface.  

The Trump administration is doing damage control on the visible signs of aging in the president, as seen in his swollen legs and a mysterious bruise on his hand.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Levitt revealed that the president had emergency heart tests to figure out what was going on and was found to have a vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency.

“In recent weeks, President Trump noted mild swelling in his lower legs. In keeping with routine medical care and out of an abundance of caution, this concern was thoroughly evaluated by the White House medical unit,” Leavitt said. “The president underwent a comprehensive examination, including diagnostic vascular studies. Bilateral lower extremity venous Doppler ultrasounds were performed and revealed chronic venous insufficiency, a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70.”

“Importantly, there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease. Laboratory testing included a complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel, coagulation profile, D dimer, B type, natriuretic peptide, and cardiac biomarkers. All results were within normal limits. An echocardiogram was also performed and confirmed normal cardiac structure and function. No signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness were identified,” she added.

Then she blamed the strange hand bruises on too much hand shaking, an excuse the president has tried many times before.

“Additionally, recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand. This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent hand shaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen. This is a well known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy, and the president remains in excellent health, which I think all of you witness on a daily basis here. So the president wanted me to share that note with all of you.”

The White House later published an email from Trump’s physician which basically reaffirmed Leavitt’s claims that everything was fine with the president’s health.

Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when one’s veins don’t flow correctly and allow blood to become backed up in the vessels, resulting in swelling.

“It’s basically not alarming information, and it’s not surprising,” Harvard Medical School assistant professor Dr. Jeremy Faust told CNN. “This is a pretty normal part of aging, and especially for someone in the overweight to obese category, which is where the president has always been. But the bigger concern … is that symptoms like this do need to be evaluated for more serious conditions, and that is what happened.”

Trump turned 79 last month.

Nick Fuentes, a far-right influencer who’s a fan of Hitler, thinks Donald Trump has gone too far.

Trump’s neo-Nazi former sidekick (no, not Elon Musk) torched the president on his show America First Wednesday night for calling his supporters that were still interested in alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein “weaklings.”

“Fuck you! Fuck you! You suck! You are fat, you are a joke, you are stupid, you are not funny, you are not as smart as you think you are,” Fuentes fumed.

“If you watch my show, you know I’ve been very critical. I’ve never been this far,” Fuentes said. “This just goes to show, this entire thing has been a scam. When we look back on the history of populism in America, we are gonna look back on the MAGA movement as the biggest scam in American history. And the liberals were right, the MAGA supporters were had!”

“When we look back in history we will see Trump as a scam artist,” he added.

To be sure, when a white supremacist says you’re right, it doesn’t mean much. But the longtime Trump supporter’s defection shows just how deep a crack Epstein has cleaved in the MAGA movement.

Despite all of Trump’s efforts to distract from Epstein, MAGA influencers just won’t stop talking about the administration’s toothless investigation. The Justice Department announced last week that the sex offender kept no incriminating “client list,” even though Trump’s attorney general claimed one had been sitting on her desk. Alex Jones, Charlie Kirk, Joe Rogan, Tim Pool, and Candace Owens have also levied attacks against the Trump administration over its shoddy work.