Lawrence O’Donnell Shocked by JD Vance’s Fumbling of Trump-Epstein Letter by ‘Provoking’ Rupert Murodch: ‘Could Destroy Trump’
Vice President JD Vance may be a liability for President Donald Trump in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report on the president’s relationship with late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Lawrence O’Donnell argued.
On MSNBC’s The Last Word, O’Donnell accused Vance of completely fumbling his response to the WSJ report .
O’Donnell said that if Vance’s intention was to help the president, he “could destroy Trump” instead.
The WSJ reported that in 2003, Trump sent Epstein, a former friend, a letter for his 50th birthday that included the line, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” as well as an imagined conversation between the two. Trump has denied writing the letter and promised to sue the Journal and its owner, media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The highly anticipated report dropped as Trump continues dealing with fallout among his MAGA supporters over the “Epstein Files.” Many supporters have soured on Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi over a recent Department of Justice/FBI memo denying the existence of the Epstein Files. The late billionaire died while in custody in a Manhattan jail of apparent suicide in 2019 as he was being charged with sex trafficking. Bondi herself referenced an Epstein “client list” in February.
Trump, meanwhile, has lashed out at upset supporters and called the idea of a list a “hoax.”
The reported Trump letter to Epstein was included in an album put together by longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving 20 years for sex trafficking.
O’Donnell noted on Thursday that Vance did something Trump did not, which is push for the release of this supposed letter, which included a drawing of a woman with Trump’s signature mimicking pubic hair.
“Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bullshit. The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it,” Vance wrote on X. “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?”
In a follow-up post, he asked, “Doesn’t it violate some rule of journalistic ethics to publish a letter like this without showing it to the victim of this hit piece?”
O’Donnell responded by wondering out loud what exactly Vance’s motivation would be for demanding something that could ultimately be the end of his boss’s political career.
He said:
The answer is no. It does not violate journalistic ethics, and the worst thing that can happen to Donald Trump is for the Wall Street Journal or anyone else to release publicly a copy of that letter. The worst thing that could happen to Donald Trump is exactly what his vice president, JD Vance, is demanding tonight. JD Vance, the person who would move up to the presidency, if this issue becomes so difficult that it drives Donald Trump out of the presidency through impeachment or resignation. We have seen this happen to a president before, and Donald Trump has never been weaker.
O’Donnell further ripped into Vance’s political instincts by noting that Trump did not push for the letter to be released. O’Donnell argued no adviser would have told Vance to respond to the situation by trying to “provoke” Murdoch. Vance, O’Donnell said, could very well push his own president out of a job.
He argued:
Donald Trump is not asking to see that letter. Donald Trump doesn’t want you to see that letter, but JD Vance wants you to see that later letter. If JD Vance creates a groundswell demand by more and more Trump supporters for the release of that letter, that could do more damage to Donald Trump than anything that has ever happened to Donald Trump in his entire political career. And it’s JD Vance who’s doing this. If JD Vance wanted to defend Donald Trump tonight, no one, absolutely no one would have advised him to say, where is the letter? No one would’ve advised him to try to provoke Rupert Murdoch tomorrow to release that letter. No one would have advised JD Vance to provoke the Wall Street Journal tomorrow or someone else to release that letter. That is the most dangerous thing JD Vance could have said tonight. If JD Vance wanted to harm Donald Trump tonight, wanted to start forcing him out of the presidency, demanding to see the letter would be a very good way to do that.
Watch above via MSNBC.
