'This was Donald Trump's signature': Fox News panel affirms Epstein letter is legitimate
A Fox News panel agreed that President Donald Trump likely signed a risque birthday letter to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On Sunday, Fox News host Howard Kurtz noted that Trump "repeatedly insisted he had never sent any birthday note" even after House Democrats released a copy of the letter.
"President was boxed in by his earlier denials and continued to say he had nothing to do with that message," the Fox News host remarked. "Both he and his press secretary, all but asking, who are you going to believe, us or your lying eyes."
"Well, all of the other letters in the book, so far as we know, are authentic, right?" conservative report Sarah Bedford pointed out. "It's extremely plausible that this was Donald Trump's signature. Donald Trump is really good at muddying the waters on things that he doesn't, you know, want to acknowledge head-on."
"But from a political optics standpoint, it doesn't make sense to me why the White House is spending so much political capital denying this," she continued. "The denial makes no sense to me."
Fox Business reporter Charlie Gasparino offered an excuse for Trump.
"He probably doesn't remember signing it because I know people that are around Donald Trump, he signs a lot of stuff sometimes," he argued. "And he might not have even known where he was signing it. I mean, trust me, I know people that deal with Donald Trump. That is very plausible that he does not remember this."
"It looks like his signature, but he says no," Kurtz observed.
"It's weird," Bedford replied. "It doesn't look great, right? Who would do that in 2003? Right, but it's entirely plausible that someone typed up the weird message on the body of it and Donald Trump signed it."
"But how the White House has handled the Epstein saga every step of the way, I think, has made a problem worse that didn't need to be," she added. "The way that they've handled it, though, has made the White House appear guilty when there's never been a scintilla of evidence that Donald Trump did anything wrong."