WATCH: CNN Host Rips WSJ Over Trump-Epstein Report: ‘Wrong Call’

CNN and nationally syndicated radio host Michael Smerconish, a longtime Trump critic, slammed the Wall Street Journal for publishing a controversial report that links President Donald Trump with notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein without providing any proof. Trump has slammed the report as “fake” and has already started the process of filing a lawsuit against the outlet, parent company News Corp and its owner Rupert Murdoch.

Earlier this week, The Journal published the transcript of a poem allegedly sent from President Trump to Epstein as a birthday note. The bizarre note contained references to “secrets” between the two and at one point the author, who the outlet claims is Trump, wrote that “enigmas never age…”

The alleged letter — which was not published by The Journal — supposedly contained a hand-drawn note of a naked woman signed “Donald” on the woman’s waist.

The report has largely generated backlash against the Wall Street Journal and Murdoch owned companies, with many pointing out that the style of the alleged letter does not sound like President Trump. According to an analysis from The Federalist, President Trump has never spoken or written the word “enigma” in the tens-of-thousands of hours he has spent in the public eye.

Smerconish joined the chorus of skeptics during his weekly hour on CNN Saturday. “Here’s what I think went on here. I’ll just cut to the chase. I think somebody leaked this birthday book to the Wall Street Journal with conditions. And by the way, we should find out who that leaker was if they’re in the government. Whatever you may think of Trump, whoever may have leaked information that’s in a DOJ file, we can’t have that,” he said.

He went on to speculate that the leaker likely told the outlet that they would summarize the letter, but not present it to them. “And you can then run with it. And then the journal has a decision to make. Are we going to print something without being able to actually show it to the public?” Smerconish speculated.

“And they decided that they would. I don’t know that that was the right call.”

In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump slammed the letter as a “fake” and announced that he will be taking legal action against the Wall Street Journal.

“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,” the president wrote.

“Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so. The Editor of The Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker, was told directly by Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE, but Emma Tucker didn’t want to hear that. Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway. President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly.”

In a follow-up post, Trump stated that his legal team will be calling on Murdoch to testify in the proceedings.