The Wall Street Journal story about Trump’s birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein has pretty much eaten the news cycle. Right-wing media and websites are still pretending the story is a hoax. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air is typical:

Want to know why Americans rate media credibility below that of used-car salesmen? The Wall Street Journal gave us a great demonstration last night. And now Donald Trump will make yet another example of a media company — this time, the Murdochs.

It’s a nothingburger, Morrissey says, even if the letter is authentic. And now Trump is going to sue the Wall Street Journal, and the Murdochs are going to be sorry!

Trump did indeed threaten to sue the Murdochs, claiming he didn’t write the letter and the story is false. Except I do know something about the newspaper biz, and I know that the big newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times have their own in-house lawyers. And one of the things those lawyers do is review controversial scoops to be sure the newspaper isn’t opening itself up to a lawsuit. I very much doubt the Wall Street Journal would have run with the story if there was any doubt whatsoever that the letter was authentic. Further, it’s my understanding (the original story is behind a subscription paywall, so I haven’t read it) that the WSJ story draws no conclusions but simply reports what’s in the letter.

And I also know a little about libel law. Truth is a near-absolute defense. The only exceptions I could find involved private citizens, not public figures, who argued that something published about them might have been true, but was done maliciously for no purpose other than to harm them. Where public figures are concerned, especially elected officials, the public’s right to know prevails. I’m sure the WSJ lawyers made sure the story as published was liability-proof.

My guess is that Trump will be talked out of filing the suit, because a suit would open up a big can of worms labeled “discovery.” Most likely he’ll go through a period of saying he’s “thinking” of filing a suit, and then he’ll just fail to get around to it.

The letter itself is beyond creepy but doesn’t absolutely prove that Trump did anything criminal or knew about Epstein’s sex-trafficking activities. It sounds a bit like something a precocious 15-year-old would produce, and Trump must have been about 56 at the time. And as Trump is a known sexual predator this isn’t really telling us anything about him many of us hadn’t already realized. Whether this will put any cracks in the Right’s pathological denial of what sort of man Trump really is remains to be seen.

Trump’s other response to the story was to order AG Pam Bondi to release any “pertinent” grand jury testimony — subject to court approval — that helped indict Epstein of sex trafficking. Josh Marshall points out the problems with this idea:

First, grand jury testimony is secret and unauthorized release of it is a serious crime. Judges can under some circumstances allow the release of grand jury testimony. But they rarely do. So “subject to Court approval” makes this whole statement basically meaningless. At most it’s a way to blame some judge for the coverup.

Second, agreeing to release only the information Trump or Bondi find “pertinent” makes the whole thing not only meaningless but laughable. My defense attorney will allow the jury to see all the pertinent information from the investigation!

Third and most importantly, no one has ever talked about grand jury testimony. It’s not even clear what testimony he’s referring to. To the extent anyone knows just what the government has, the focus has always been on materials confiscated from Epstein during the 2019 investigation and especially what was taken from his residence and safe when he was arrested. So the whole “grand jury testimony” thing is a silly red herring.

Someone on MSNBC last night said that Ghislaine Maxwell has an appeal of her conviction pending, which makes the release of any Epstein testimony even more unlikely.

Do read Why Trump Can’t Shake Jeffrey Epstein by Ezra Klein at the New York Times. It brings the QAnon believers into focus to show why they so stubbornly stick with Trump. They sound a lot like an apocalypse cult that is absolutely certain Jesus will return in glory on such and such a date. The faithful leave their jobs and give away their possessions to be ready. And then when the great event fails to happen, and they are ruined, they just assume they got the date wrong and choose another date. Their faith in this glorious thing has become so central to their lives and self-identities that they can’t give it up.

But Trump is worse than the Jesus who just doesn’t show up. He’s betraying these people with every policy decision. For example, some apparently believed Trump would release the government’s secret cure for cancer, which they had, so they wouldn’t have to die. Instead, he ended a lot of promising cancer research by cutting off funds. Because of Trump, a whole lot about life in the United States is going to get a whole lot harder, especially if you don’t have much money.

In other news — nobody believes that CBS cancelled it’s top-rated Late Show With Stephen Colbert for “financial reasons.” Colbert will still be on until his current contract ends in May. Then no more Late Show. I assume CBS will fill the time with old movies. I am hoping Colbert gets picked up by one of the cable companies, like HBO or Comedy Central.

And this morning Trump’s cuts to NPR, PDS, and foreign aid passed in the House, which means the cuts just need Trump’s signature to become law.

Update: See Marcy Wheeler, Pam Bondi Reportedly Created 1,000 Witnesses to the Jeffrey Epstein File. That must be the file that was on Bondi’s desk that later was determined to not exist.