Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Chris Cillizza Says WSJ Epstein Story Is Actually ‘Good Thing For Trump’

Screenshot/YouTube/Chris Cillizza

NewsNation political contributor Chris Cillizza argued on Friday that The Wall Street Journal’s Thursday report alleging that President Donald Trump sent deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein a suggestive letter is benefiting the president politically with his base.

The WSJ reports in the article that Trump sent the alleged letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, but the president wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday that the piece is “false, malicious, and defamatory,” calling the letter “FAKE.” Cillizza said on his “So What” Substack that he believes the story is bringing Trump’s supporters together because they share his disdain for the media and believe it is biased against him.

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“Let me explain why I think this is actually a good thing for Trump. Because it unites, I think, a split MAGA base. There is nothing that unites the Make America Great Again movement more than quote-unquote fake news,” Cillizza said. “Or the mainstream media being out to get Donald Trump. That is the role that he is seizing on right now — role of victim, role of target. He has denied everything in the story.”

Cillizza also noted that Trump announced in the Truth Social post that he would be suing the WSJ, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch.

“[W]e know he tried to get the Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief, a woman named Emma Tucker, not to run the story. Trump says he talked to Rupert Murdoch, the owner of The Wall Street Journal, about not running the story,” he added. “So all of this is to say that, rather than talking today about the split within the MAGA base — which still does exist as it relates to Epstein — we’re talking primarily about this story and Donald Trump’s attacks on it.”

“And from what I have seen, the response among the influencer Make America Great Again crowd to this story is: Donald Trump is being unfairly targeted, not ‘release the Epstein files.’ And that is a good thing for Donald Trump,” he continued. “Anytime Donald Trump can play the victim is a good thing for him. Anytime Donald Trump can portray himself as being unfairly targeted by the media is a good thing for him.”

The WSJ did not display the alleged letter in its article, but described it as “bawdy.”

It reported that the alleged document “contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.”

The president’s signature was allegedly written below the woman’s waist and the letter reportedly ended with, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to The WSJ.

While Trump has been public about his past friendship with the deceased pedophile, the two reportedly cut ties around 2004, according to The Washington Post, two years prior to Epstein publicly facing accusations of abusing girls.

The media amplified its spotlight around Epstein on July 6 after the Department of Justice (DOJ) quietly released a memo, first obtained by Axios, stating that the FBI had discovered no “client list” or foul play in the deceased pedophile’s suicide.

Following the memo, both Democrats and Trump supporters have demanded the release of all the documents pertaining to Epstein.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that the DOJ was “ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts” after Trump requested their publication.