Today’s paragraph comes to us, via X (twitter), from writer/commentator Byron York. It concerns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) “exclusive” article of July 17th, which claims (this is the headline): “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump.”
Let’s start with the fact that the article does not show a copy of the letter, which – call me a stickler for detail – I would think they would definitely have published if they had it. For his part, Trump denies he ever did such a thing and is threatening to sue the WSJ.
But – worst case scenario here – what if the story is 100% accurate. What if he did send a “bawdy” letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003?
Here, from his X account, is Byron York’s view:
Say the WSJ story is entirely accurate. What does it add to our understanding of Trump and Epstein? The birthday letter was January 2003. Trump and Epstein broke off contact in 2004. Epstein was first arrested in July 2006 from an investigation that began in March 2005. WP factchecker, surveying all public knowledge about the case, wrote that “No credible allegation has emerged to connect Trump to any of Epstein’s crimes. If the full [Epstein] file is ever released, we are confident that no connection would be found.” So what does this birthday card tell you?
Bottom line? The WSJ claim, even if it is true (which – again – there is no corroboration of), is a big fat….nothing. An absolute zero of a story published, in my opinion, for no other reason than to sensationalize someone’s claim about the “where is it, let’s see it” letter, in an effort to sell some more newspapers and internet subscriptions.
I therefore award Byron York Paragraph Of The Day honors for reminding us (and whoever is open to reality instead of fantasy) what a meaningless hit job this “bawdy letter” article is.
