Vice President JD Vance’s profane defense of Donald Trump over a disputed letter involving Jeffrey Epstein has backfired after the document surfaced in Congress. A copy of Trump’s illustrated and signed 2003 birthday message to Epstein was delivered to the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
The letter, which Trump has denied writing, contained imagined dialogue between the two men drawn inside the outline of a woman’s silhouette. Trump signed it “Donald” below the figure’s waist. When The Wall Street Journal first reported on the letter’s contents in July, Vance lashed out on X. “Forgive my language, but this story is complete and utter bulls–t. The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it,” he wrote.
At the time, he questioned whether the letter even existed, adding, “Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?” The revelation of the document prompted Democratic officials to seize on Vance’s earlier denials.
California Governor Gavin Newsom quipped on X, “This aged nicely,” while the Democratic Party’s official account mocked him directly, writing, “Found the letter for you, @JDVance.” Trump has rejected any connection to the letter and filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch.
In the lawsuit, Trump claimed he personally warned Murdoch not to publish the story, a statement that appeared at odds with Vance’s insistence that the paper “never showed it to us.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also repeated Monday that Trump had not written or signed the document and vowed his legal team would “aggressively pursue litigation.”
Vance continued to defend Trump, saying in July, “I have no idea if the book exists–WSJ won’t show it to us. I have no idea if the letter exists–WSJ won’t show it to us. What I find absurd is the idea that Donald Trump was writing poems to Epstein.” He accused the Journal of trying to “assassinate the president’s character” through selective leaks.
Following Monday’s disclosure, Democratic congressman Ro Khanna urged Vance to retract his words. “Vice President Vance should be asked to retract what he said, defaming the Wall Street Journal reporter. He said it was fake. Now we have the letter,” Khanna told CNN.
Vance did not retreat. Instead, he accused Democrats of exploiting the controversy. “The Democrats don’t care about Epstein,” he wrote on X. “They don’t even care about his victims. The only thing they care about is concocting another fake scandal like Russiagate to smear President Trump with lies. No one is falling for this BS.”