President Donald Trump's salacious and graphic birthday letter to sex trafficker and wealth manager Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 was detailed in an explosive new Wall Street Journal report on Thursday evening — in the face of Trump threatening to sue the paper for reporting on it, and amid Trump's fight to tamp down anger from his own base after the Justice Department didn't follow through with his promises to release the entirety of the files on the Epstein prosecution.
Nothing in the letter implicates Trump in a criminal offense — but nonetheless, commenters on social media were stunned by the new revelations.
"Oh so it’s *bad* bad," wrote NOTUS Capitol Hill reporter Matt Fuller.
"Kudos to the WSJ team who resisted legal threats from the president to do journalism about the president," wrote former GOP staffer Amanda Carpenter.
"Well, I mean, really: Did anyone think Trump went to war with his base because he had nothing to hide?" wrote The Insider editor Michael Weiss.
"Oh now. What if the GOP responds to the Epstein stuff by releasing really damaging stuff on Bill Clinton? That be horrible, horrible. I would hate for that to happen," wrote The Nation's Jeet Heer.
"Oh my this is gonna be catnip for internet conspiracy theorists. Actually… not just them. 'Trump: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,'" wrote MSNBC's Brandy Zadrozny.
"Follow up: What wonderful secrets do you have in common with Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump?" wrote anti-Trump Republican pollster Sarah Longwell.
