Grenell Slams WSJ for Loading Up on 'Partisan Lefties'

The Wall Street Journal has reaped what it has sewn with its staff being stacked by "partisan lefties," according to former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.

"Everyone in Washington, DC knows that the @WSJ drastically changed a few years ago – it started hiring very partisan @politico reporters who ruined the brand," Grenell wrote Friday on X.

"I don't know who decided to do it…. but look at the DC office for the WSJ and you see mostly partisan lefties who have just recycled through left wing newsrooms for years.

"The WSJ used to have only solid journalists who cared about the truth."

The Journal's targeting President Donald Trump with a political smear piece for sending Jeffrey Epstein with a birthday message – before Epstein was disgraced and exposed by sex trafficking allegations – shows its bias after years of being one of the more reliable business-like publications that stayed out of leftist partisan politics like its counterparts at The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The Journal's birthday message smear is drawing a Trump lawsuit against the newspaper and Rupert Murdoch, who controls its publisher, News Corp. Murdoch has been a Trump ally, and has even been in the Oval Office with Trump during this administration, but his resting control of his media empire has been handed off more and more to his left-wing sons.

"The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued," Trump wrote.

"President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly."

A spokesperson for the Wall Street Journal and its parent company, Dow Jones & Company, Inc, declined to comment on its story or Trump's threat to sue. Representatives for News Corp and Murdoch could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the report a "hatchet job."

"The Wall Street Journal published a hatchet job article with a FAKE 'birthday letter' that is supposedly from 2003," she wrote in a statement.

"This is like the Steele Dossier that kickstarted 'the Russia, Russia, Russia' Hoax all over again.

"The WSJ refused to show us the letter and conceded they don't even have it in their possession when we asked them to verify the alleged document they're basing their ENTIRE fake story on.

"When has President Trump ever spoken like the conversation alleged in the fake WSJ story? That's not at all how he speaks or writes. The WSJ knowingly published false information to smear the President of the United States.

"As I said at the podium today, there is a coordinated Hoax by the Democrats and Fake News to smear President Trump — as we've seen throughout both of his terms."

Attorney General Pam Bondi had pledged months earlier to reveal major revelations about Epstein, including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs."

Some Trump supporters have demanded the release of more information on Epstein, causing a rare fracture within his base of support. Trump has pushed back.

"It's all been a big hoax," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, as calls increased for the release of more information on Epstein's clients.

But Trump and Bondi said Thursday they would seek court permission to release grand jury testimony from the Epstein case.

The Journal said the birthday letter, bearing Trump's name, contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appeared to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. The newspaper said the letter concludes "Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret," and featured the signature "Donald."

Vice President JD Vance responded to the story on X, saying, "Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bullshit. The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it."

Allegations that Epstein had been sexually abusing girls became public in 2006 – after the birthday book was compiled – and he was arrested that year before accepting a plea deal. Epstein died in 2019 in jail after he was arrested a second time and charged with sex-trafficking conspiracy.

Information from Reuters was used to compile this report.