As the fallout continues from the Wall Street Journal’s bombshell report revealing new details about President Donald Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the president’s own words in response to the allegations appear to only make things worse for him, one columnist said Friday.
The Journal claimed to have come into possession of a 2003 album of letters sent to Epstein, who died under mysterious circumstances in 2019 while facing human trafficking charges, one of which came from Trump. That letter included a crudely-drawn picture of a naked woman, the Journal reported, and a message wishing for Epstein that “every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump denied the authenticity of the letter, adding that he doesn’t “draw pictures” and hadn’t “wrote a picture in (his) life.”
Steve Benen, a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," seized on Trump’s comments as a poorly thought-out defense, given the abundance of historical evidence to suggest the contrary.
“I won’t pretend to know where this story is headed, but if a core element of Trump’s defense is that he’s never before drawn a picture, this sounds a bit sketchy,” Benen wrote.
Trump has, in fact, drawn pictures before, with ample evidence of such going back decades. In 1995, a Trump-drawn picture of the Empire State Building, signature included, was put up for auction in New York City. An ink drawing of the George Washington Bridge, also signed by Trump, sold for nearly $5,000 in an auction in 2006, and Trump's sketch sold for $16,000 as recently as 2017, The New York Times reported.
“All of which suggests the first draft of the president’s defense still needs some work, Benen wrote.
Epstein and Trump’s relationship goes back to the 1990s, where the two would socialize frequently in Palm Beach, Florida, and in New York City. Trump went on to fly on Epstein’s private jet at least seven times in the 1990s, with Epstein claiming in 2017 that he was Trump’s “closest friend for ten years.”