CNN host Wolf Blitzer delivered a biting award presentation at Friday night’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner to reporters from The Wall Street Journal for their reporting on President Donald Trump’s past relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — with Trump seated only a few feet away.

“The Journal’s courageous reporting on President Trump’s past relationship with financier Jeffrey Epstein triggered the release of the so-called Epstein files, thousands of documents that might have otherwise remained hidden from the public,” Blitzer said. “And despite the president’s threat of a lawsuit, the Journal published a story about a provocative letter to Epstein bearing President Trump’s signature.”

Blitzer went on to detail Trump’s two $10 billion lawsuits against the newspaper, as Trump shrugged and smiled before greeting the reporters and shaking their hands.

The reporters who received the Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability included Khadeeja Safdar, Joe Palazzolo, Sadie Gurman, Annie Linskey, Josh Dawsey, Alex Leary, Rebecca Ballhaus and C. Ryan Barber.

Among the most damning stories published by the WSJ included one about an alleged letter Trump had written to Epstein in 2003 for his 50th birthday.

“Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the unsettling message said in part. Trump has always denied writing the letter.

Trump had reportedly called the WSJ’s publisher, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, before publishing, in an attempt to have the story killed, but Murdoch refused.

Trump’s initial defamation lawsuit against the WSJ was dismissed, but the president refiled a second $10 billion suit against the newspaper that is currently still pending.

Watch Blitzer’s full speech from Friday’s WHCD here:

Pres. Trump reacts to award to Wall Street Journal receiving @whca Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability for investigative reporting detailing a birthday card and drawing sent to Jeffrey Epstein pic.twitter.com/AyFZjjx1Vj

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