Lawrence O’Donnell stated Vice President JD Vance has the facility to finish Donald Trump‘s presidency over his response to the continuing Jeffrey Epstein controversy.
On Thursday’s (July 17) version of MSNBC’s The Final Phrase, O’Donnell touched on a current Wall Road Journal report that alleged that, in 2003, Trump despatched Epstein a letter for his fiftieth birthday that included the road, “Completely satisfied Birthday — and will day by day be one other fantastic secret,” along with an imagined dialog between the pair.
Trump has denied writing the letter and threatened to sue the WSJ and its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch. This comes after the Division of Justice and the FBI launched an announcement earlier this month stating the long-rumored Epstein shopper checklist doesn’t exist. Trump has confronted backlash, even from staunch MAGA supporters, for his dealing with of the scenario.
On Thursday evening, Vance took to X to share his personal response to the WSJ report, writing, “Forgive my language however this story is full and utter bulls***. The WSJ must be ashamed for publishing it. The place is that this letter? Would you be shocked to be taught they by no means confirmed it to us earlier than publishing it? Does anybody actually consider this seems like Donald Trump?”
Doesn’t it violate some rule of journalistic ethics to publish a letter like this with out exhibiting it to the sufferer of this hit piece?
Will the individuals who have purchased into each hoax towards President Trump present an oz. of skepticism earlier than shopping for into this weird story?
— JD Vance (@JDVance) July 17, 2025
He adopted up, including, “Doesn’t it violate some rule of journalistic ethics to publish a letter like this with out exhibiting it to the sufferer of this hit piece?”
O’Donnell reacted to Vance’s publish, noting that Vance’s demand for the WSJ to launch the letter could possibly be detrimental to Trump’s presidency.
“The reply isn’t any. It doesn’t violate journalistic ethics, and the worst factor that may occur to Donald Trump is for the Wall Road Journal or anybody else to launch publicly a duplicate of that letter,” the long-time information anchor stated, per Mediaite. “The worst factor that would occur to Donald Trump is strictly what his vp, JD Vance, is demanding tonight.”
He continued, “JD Vance, the one who would transfer as much as the presidency, if this situation turns into so tough that it drives Donald Trump out of the presidency by way of impeachment or resignation. We’ve got seen this occur to a president earlier than, and Donald Trump has by no means been weaker.”
O’Donnell identified how Trump himself shouldn’t be asking to see the letter, nor would any Trump advisor recommend Vance publicly demand to see the letter.
“Donald Trump doesn’t need you to see that letter, however JD Vance needs you to see that later letter,” the host stated. “If JD Vance creates a groundswell demand by increasingly Trump supporters for the discharge of that letter, that would do extra harm to Donald Trump than something that has ever occurred to Donald Trump in his whole political profession. And it’s JD Vance who’s doing this.”
He added, “If JD Vance needed to defend Donald Trump tonight, nobody, completely nobody would have suggested him to say, ‘the place is the letter?’ Nobody would’ve suggested him to attempt to provoke Rupert Murdoch tomorrow to launch that letter. Nobody would have suggested JD Vance to impress the Wall Road Journal tomorrow or another person to launch that letter. That’s the most harmful factor JD Vance might have stated tonight.”
“If JD Vance needed to hurt Donald Trump tonight, needed to start out forcing him out of the presidency, demanding to see the letter can be an excellent approach to try this,” O’Donnell concluded.
The Final Phrase With Lawrence O’Donnell, Weekdays, 10/9c, MSNBC