Wall Street Journal Moves to Dismiss Trump’s Epstein Letter Lawsuit (6/12/26)

Wall Street Journal Moves to Dismiss Trump’s Epstein Letter Lawsuit (6/12/26)

The Wall Street Journal asked a federal judge to dismiss Donald Trump’s revised defamation lawsuit over its reporting on a sexually suggestive birthday letter allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump sued Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, and others after the Journal reported that a 2003 birthday album compiled for Epstein included a letter bearing Trump’s name. Trump denies writing it and claims the story was false and defamatory, but a federal judge already dismissed the earlier version of the lawsuit because Trump failed to plausibly show actual malice, the demanding legal standard public figures must meet in defamation cases. Trump then filed an amended complaint, arguing in part that Murdoch had told him he would “handle” the matter before publication, but the Journal says the revised lawsuit still does not fix the legal defects. The Journal’s dismissal motion argues that Trump’s new complaint mostly repackages claims the court already rejected and still fails to show that the outlet knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. The Journal says it accurately reported the existence of the letter, included Trump’s denial, and conducted reporting steps before publication, including seeking comment. It also asks the court to dismiss the case with prejudice and seeks legal fees under Florida’s anti-SLAPP law, casting the lawsuit as an attempt to punish or intimidate protected journalism. In plain terms, Trump is trying to keep the Epstein-letter defamation case alive after an earlier defeat, while the Journal is telling the court that the amended lawsuit is still legally empty and should now be thrown out for good. to contact me: bobbycapucci@protonmail.com source: Wall Street Journal Asks Judge To Toss Trump's Revised Lawsuit [https://deadline.com/2026/06/trump-wall-street-journal-lawsuit-dismiss-motion-1236953153/]

Lesley Groff Tells Congress Epstein "Kept Her in the Dark." (6/12/26)

Lesley Groff told Congress that Jeffrey Epstein was a “monster” and a “master manipulator,” but insisted she did not know he was running a sex-trafficking operation while she worked as his longtime executive secretary. In her closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee, Groff said she believes Epstein’s victims, but argued that Epstein hid his crimes from her because he had every reason to keep her in the dark and no leverage over her that would have made her stay silent. She maintained that if she had known girls and young women were being abused through the massage appointments and travel logistics she helped arrange, she would not have ignored it. Groff also said she has faced harassment and death threats since Epstein’s 2019 arrest, presenting herself as someone who has been publicly blamed for crimes she claims she neither knew about nor participated in. The problem for Groff is that her denial sits against the scale of her role in Epstein’s daily operation. She worked for him for more than 18 years, was described by Epstein as an “extension of my brain,” scheduled his meetings, booked his frequent massages, arranged travel for women connected to him, and was listed as a potential co-conspirator in the 2007 non-prosecution agreement. Federal prosecutors previously said numerous victims identified her as responsible for scheduling massages during which they were abused, and survivor Marina Lacerda has described Groff as a conduit to Epstein, saying anything involving Epstein had to go through her. Groff’s testimony, then, amounted to a direct attempt to separate administrative involvement from criminal knowledge: she admitted she helped run the machinery around Epstein, but denied knowing what that machinery was being used for. to contact me: bobbycapucci@protonmail.com source: Longtime Epstein assistant paints late sex offender as master manipulator and denies knowing about his crimes | CNN Politics [https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/09/politics/epstein-assistant-lesley-groff-house-oversight]

Mega Edition: How Academia Not Only Welcomed Epstein But Protected Him (6/12/26)

Jeffrey Epstein bought his way into higher education the same way he bought his way into so many elite spaces: with money, proximity, and the promise of access to even bigger money. At Harvard, he donated about $9.1 million between 1998 and 2008, including a $6.5 million gift that helped create the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics under Martin Nowak, giving Epstein a foothold inside one of the most prestigious universities in the world despite having no real academic credentials of his own. At MIT, the Media Lab accepted Epstein-connected donations totaling about $850,000 between 2002 and 2017, including money received after his 2008 conviction, while Epstein also served as a connector to other wealthy donors. The pattern was not complicated: Epstein used philanthropy as a laundering device for reputation, turning checks into offices, meetings, dinners, campus visits, faculty relationships, and the aura of intellectual legitimacy. Harvard’s own review confirmed the scale of his giving and his access, while MIT’s investigation showed that officials knew his status created problems and still allowed the relationship to continue. Once Epstein got inside those institutions, the protection came less through some formal public defense and more through silence, compartmentalization, prestige, and the willingness of important people to treat his money as separate from his crimes. Harvard said it did not accept gifts from Epstein after his 2008 conviction, but its review still found that Epstein continued visiting the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics dozens of times after that conviction, with access to campus space and faculty circles. MIT’s own report found that Epstein’s donations continued after his conviction and that the Media Lab tried to keep his name from public association with the money, which is exactly how reputational laundering works: take the cash, preserve the relationship, hide the stink. The result was that higher education gave Epstein what he craved—status, brainpower, proximity to Nobel-level scientists, and a way to present himself as a patron of big ideas instead of a convicted sex offender. In plain terms, Epstein did not sneak into academia; he paid his admission, and once he was inside, too many people decided the money, connections, and prestige were worth more than asking the obvious questions. to contact me: bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

Mega Edition: Leon Black Attempts To Put Some Distance Between Himself And Epstein (6/11/26)

Joseph Recarey was the Palm Beach police detective who did the real street-level investigative work when Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse first came into law enforcement view in the mid-2000s. He interviewed victims, tracked down witnesses, built timelines, collected corroborating details, and helped expose that Epstein’s conduct was not an isolated allegation but a pattern involving numerous girls. Recarey’s work helped show the scale of what was happening behind the walls of Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, and his investigation directly challenged the softer treatment Epstein later received from higher levels of the justice system. He died in 2018, before Epstein’s second arrest, but his role remains central because he was one of the investigators who actually treated the girls like victims and treated Epstein like a predator, not some untouchable financier who deserved special handling. Michael Reiter was the Palm Beach police chief who backed the investigation and refused to let Epstein’s wealth, lawyers, and social standing bury the case quietly. Reiter pushed the matter forward when prosecutors appeared reluctant to pursue Epstein aggressively, and he later became one of the most important critics of how the case was handled by state and federal authorities. He argued that Epstein received preferential treatment and that the evidence supported a much more serious prosecution than the deal Epstein ultimately received. Together, Recarey and Reiter represent the part of the Epstein story where local police did their job, built a case, and recognized the scope of the abuse—only to watch the machinery above them narrow, soften, and ultimately protect Epstein through a sweetheart outcome that has haunted the case ever since. to contact me: bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

Mega Edition: The Palm Beach Officials Who Refused to Let The Epstein Case Die (6/12/26)

Joseph Recarey was the Palm Beach police detective who did the real street-level investigative work when Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse first came into law enforcement view in the mid-2000s. He interviewed victims, tracked down witnesses, built timelines, collected corroborating details, and helped expose that Epstein’s conduct was not an isolated allegation but a pattern involving numerous girls. Recarey’s work helped show the scale of what was happening behind the walls of Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, and his investigation directly challenged the softer treatment Epstein later received from higher levels of the justice system. He died in 2018, before Epstein’s second arrest, but his role remains central because he was one of the investigators who actually treated the girls like victims and treated Epstein like a predator, not some untouchable financier who deserved special handling. Michael Reiter was the Palm Beach police chief who backed the investigation and refused to let Epstein’s wealth, lawyers, and social standing bury the case quietly. Reiter pushed the matter forward when prosecutors appeared reluctant to pursue Epstein aggressively, and he later became one of the most important critics of how the case was handled by state and federal authorities. He argued that Epstein received preferential treatment and that the evidence supported a much more serious prosecution than the deal Epstein ultimately received. Together, Recarey and Reiter represent the part of the Epstein story where local police did their job, built a case, and recognized the scope of the abuse—only to watch the machinery above them narrow, soften, and ultimately protect Epstein through a sweetheart outcome that has haunted the case ever since. to contact me: bobbycapucci@protonmail.com