Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, has criticised Republicans who claim that a birthday letter from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein is a hoax, noting that the initial report came from a conservative news organisation owned by Rupert Murdoch.
On Monday, Democrats on the House Ethics Committee released the letter, which reportedly bears Trump’s signature and a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman. The White House has denied the letter’s authenticity, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt calling it a “Democrat Epstein hoax.”
Scarborough pointed out on Tuesday that the story was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, part of Murdoch’s News Corp. “It is Rupert Murdoch’s own conservative media empire that is running this, not Democrats,” he said. Co-host Jonathan Lemire described the White House denial as “an attempt to deny reality.”
The White House referred to Leavitt’s post on X, in which she stated that Trump did not draw the picture or sign the letter, and that his legal team would pursue litigation. Trump has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its parent company over the report.
The letter, allegedly sent in 2003, has reignited scrutiny of Trump’s past ties to Epstein, a convicted sex offender. Trump has said he stopped associating with Epstein in the early 2000s, but reports indicate Epstein was banned from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in 2007. Some Republicans, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, are calling for the release of Epstein-related documents.
