Trump sues Wall Street Journal over Epstein report, seeks $10 billion
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch on Friday, seeking at least $10 billion in damages over the newspaper's report that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.
Trump filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Florida against Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal reporters, accusing the defendants of defamation and saying they acted with malicious intent that caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.
Trump has vehemently denied the Journal report, which Reuters has not verified, and warned Murdoch, the founder of News Corp, that he planned to sue. Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp.
"I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning.
Representatives of Dow Jones, News Corp and Murdoch could not be reached for comment.
Disgraced financier and sex offender Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019.
The case has generated conspiracy theories that became popular among Trump's base of supporters who believed the government was covering up Epstein's ties to the rich and powerful.
Some of Trump's most loyal followers became furious after his administration reversed course on its promise to release files related to the Epstein investigation. A Justice Department memo released on July 7 concluded that Epstein killed himself and said there was "no incriminating client list" or evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people.
Attorney General Pam Bondi had pledged months earlier to reveal major revelations about Epstein, including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs."
With pressure to release the Epstein files building, Trump on Thursday said he directed Bondi to ask a court to release grand jury testimony about Epstein.
The U.S. government on Friday filed a motion in Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and his former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who in 2021 was convicted of five federal charges related to her role in Epstein's sexual abuse of underage girls. She is serving a 20-year sentence.
"Public officials, lawmakers, pundits, and ordinary citizens remain deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the filing. "After all, Jeffrey Epstein is the most infamous pedophile in American history."
Blanche called the transcripts "critical pieces of an important moment in our nation's history," and said "the time for the public to guess what they contain should end."
He said prosecutors would work to redact all victim-identifying information before making anything public.
BAWDY LETTER
The Journal said the letter bearing Trump's name was part of a leather-bound birthday book for Epstein that included messages from other high-profile people. The newspaper said the letter contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appeared to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. The newspaper said the letter concludes "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret," and featured the signature "Donald."
Allegations that Epstein had been sexually abusing girls became public in 2006 - after the birthday book was allegedly produced - and he was arrested that year before accepting a plea deal. Epstein died just over a month after he was arrested for a second time and charged with sex-trafficking conspiracy.
Trump, who was photographed with Epstein multiple times in social situations in the 1990s and early 2000s, told reporters in 2019 that he ended his relationship with Epstein before his legal troubles became apparent.
In 2002, Trump, a Florida neighbor of Epstein's, was quoted in New York magazine as saying, "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office in 2019, Trump said he and Epstein had a "falling out" before the financier was first arrested.
Trump said he "knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him" but that, "I had a falling out with him. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you."
WHAT THE TRANSCRIPTS COULD SHOW
The release of the grand jury documents may fall short of what many of Trump's supporters have sought, including case files held by the administration.
Grand juries review evidence from prosecutors to determine whether people should be indicted for crimes. This includes hearsay, improperly obtained information and other evidence that prosecutors would not be allowed to present at trial.
Transcripts of grand jury proceedings are generally kept secret under federal criminal procedure rules, with limited exceptions.
A judge may allow disclosure of grand jury matters in connection with judicial proceedings, or at the request of defendants who believe it could lead to the dismissal of their indictments.
It is likely that some material released from grand jury proceedings would be redacted, or blacked out, because of privacy or security concerns. REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
US authorities probing airliner's close call with B-52 bomber
Find out what's new on ST website and app. A Delta flight took off on July 18 from Minneapolis and was approaching the city of Minot, North Dakota when the pilot rapidly rerouted after seeing another aircraft nearing from the right. WASHINGTON - US aviation regulators said on July 21 that they are investigating a recent close call in which a passenger plane took emergency action to avoid a mid-air collision with a US military bomber. A Delta flight operated by SkyWest took off on July 18 from Minneapolis and was approaching the city of Minot, North Dakota when the pilot rapidly rerouted after seeing another aircraft nearing from the right. 'I don't know how fast they were going, but they were a lot faster than us, I felt it was the safest thing to do to turn behind it,' the pilot told passengers, according to recorded audio of the commercial pilot. 'Sorry about the aggressive maneuver,' he said. 'This is not normal at all.' The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that US officials are 'investigating the event involving SkyWest Airlines Flight 3788 at Minot International Airport on July 18'. SkyWest said it has also begun a probe. The flight was cleared for approach by the tower 'but performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path', the carrier said in a statement reported by US media. The US Air Force base near Minot confirmed in a statement that a B-52 bomber performed an approved flyover on July 18 night at the North Dakota State Fair, and said the crew was communicating with air traffic controllers at Minot's commercial airport. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. World Trump 'caught off guard' by Israel's strikes in Syria Opinion Singapore's vaping crisis lays bare the drug addiction nightmare for parents Singapore LTA seeks tailored solutions to improve Bukit Panjang LRT's maintenance inspections World US not rushing trade deals ahead of August deadline, will talk with China, Bessent says Multimedia 'It's very sad': She comforts loved ones turned away by inmates Opinion Sumiko at 61: 7 facts about facial skin ageing, and skincare ingredients that actually work Singapore Subsidies and grants for some 20,000 people miscalculated due to processing issue: MOH Opinion With Shatec cutting back operations, what's next for Singapore's hospitality sector? 'The B-52 crew contacted Minot International Airport tower and the tower provided instructions to continue two miles westbound after the flyover. The tower did not advise of the inbound commercial aircraft,' it said. It provided no further details about the near miss. The northern city, about 80km from the Canada border, is home to a commercial airport and a US Air Force base. In a passenger video posted to Instagram and verified by Storyful, the SkyWest pilot told passengers he was not made aware about the B-52. He said the Minot tower, which does not use radar – a common situation in smaller, more remote airfields in the United States – offered guidance that could have put the passenger jet in jeopardy. 'He said 'Turn right.' I said there's an airplane over there. And he says 'Turn left,'' the pilot said. 'I don't know why they didn't give us a heads up because the Air Force base does have radar and nobody said, 'hey there's also a B-52 in the pattern,'' he said. The passenger who recorded the video, Ms Monica Green, said she was 'sick to my stomach' about the near miss. Ms Green, quoted by NBC News, said she felt the jet take a hard turn and then 'I just remember the plane going, like, sideways... and just looking straight out the window and just seeing grass' with no visible skyline. The incident comes less than six months after a US Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet approaching Washington's Reagan National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. The disaster prompted federal authorities and Congress to review coordination between military and civilian aircraft flying in the same airspace. AFP
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
NFL-Native American groups slam Trump call to bring back Washington's NFL team name name
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Some Native American groups slammed Mr Donald Trump for pushing for a return to what they called harmful names. Two Native American groups on July 21 condemned US President Donald Trump's threat to block a new football stadium in Washington, unless the local NFL team restores its old and controversial Redskins name . In posts on his Truth Social platform on July 20, Mr Trump said there was 'a big clamoring' for the team, which has been called the Commanders since 2022, to revert to its former name and that 'our great Indian people' want it to happen. Mr Trump also urged Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians, who changed their name from Indians in 2021, to follow suit. But some Native American groups slammed Mr Trump for pushing for a return to what they called harmful names. 'These mascots and names do not honour Native Peoples – they reduce us to caricatures,' the Association on American Indian Affairs said in a statement. 'Our diverse Peoples and cultures are not relics of the past or mascots for entertainment.' 'Native Nations are sovereign, contemporary cultures who deserve respect and self-determination, not misrepresentation.' After decades of criticism that the name was a racial slur, the Washington NFL team in July 2020 retired the Redskins name and logo – featuring the profile of a red-faced Native American with feathers in his hair – that had been in place since 1933. The National Congress of American Indians said it opposes any effort to revive what it called racist mascots that demean Indigenous communities, calling it 'an affront to Tribal sovereignty.' 'For seventy-five years, NCAI has held an unbroken voice: Imagery and fan behaviors that mock, demean, and dehumanise Native people have no place in modern society,' NCAI President Mark Macarro said in a statement. Because Congress retains oversight of Washington under its home-rule law, Mr Trump could try to influence federal funding or approvals tied to the stadium, but he lacks direct authority to block it. Congress, controlled by Mr Trump's Republicans, also has the power to override decisions by the Democratic-dominated Washington, City Council, though it rarely exercises this authority. The team, which has been in suburban Landover, Maryland, since 1997, reached an agreement with the District of Columbia government in April to return to the city with a new stadium expected to open in 2030. The White House did not respond to a request for further comment on Mr Trump's post. The Commanders and NFL also did not respond to requests for comment. While some groups oppose the Commanders returning to the former name, the Native American Guardians Association said it supported Mr Trump's desire to bring back the Redskins name. 'The Native American Guardians Association stands with the President of the United States in the call to return common sense and sanity back to our nation,' the group said in a statement. 'Virtually all Americans, to include American Indians, are fed up with cancel culture.' The Commanders have won three Super Bowls and are one of the NFL's marquee franchises, ranked by Forbes last year as the league's 10th most valuable franchise at US$6.3 billion. Many American professional and collegiate sports teams have Native American-themed names. Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves, the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks and NFL's Kansas City Chiefs have said they have no plans to change their names. REUTERS
AsiaOne
3 hours ago
- AsiaOne
As US wildfires rage, Trump staff cuts force firefighters to clean toilets, critics say, World News
The US Forest Service faced criticism from current and former employees who say federal workforce reductions under the Trump administration have left fire teams understaffed, as the country grapples with decade-high US wildfire numbers this year. The agency, which oversees the nation's largest wildland firefighting force, rejected those claims, saying it has sufficient resources. However, more than a dozen active and retired US Forest Service employees told Reuters the agency is struggling to fill critical roles after approximately 5,000 employees — roughly 15 per cent of its workforce — quit in the past five months. Accounts from firefighters in Oregon and New Mexico, as well as a fire chief recruiting support staff in the Pacific Northwest, said the vacancies have led to personnel held back from supporting frontline firefighting because of administrative duties. The crew leader on an Oregon blaze said her team went hungry for several days, ran short of medical supplies, and had to scrounge for chainsaw fuel after support staff quit the agency during two rounds of "fork in the road" buyouts. "I had guys who were going to bed hungry after working 16 hours," said the crew leader on the Alder Springs Fire, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job. National and local USFS officials say, however, the force is ready for what is expected to be a worse-than-average fire year in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the northern Rockies, according to National Interagency Fire Centre forecasts. "Our fire staff feels very confident in our staffing levels going into this fire season," said USFS public affairs officer Isabella Isaksen, who represents USFS operations in central Oregon. Isaksen said food problems on the Alder Springs Fire were due to a new caterer and were quickly resolved. She said medical, chainsaw, and other supplies were available on the 3,400-acre blaze that triggered evacuations in two counties. 'They are ready' The Trump administration pledged not to cut firefighting positions and other public safety jobs in firings, voluntary resignations, and early retirements meant to raise efficiency at the USFS, which manages 193 million acres of land (78 million hectares), roughly the size of Texas. [[nid:720372]] USFS employees that Reuters interviewed for this story said the loss of thousands of foresters, biologists, trail builders, and campground managers was having a knock-on effect on firefighters. Not only are firefighters having to cover empty positions at ranger stations, but they also have lost hundreds of peers who each year switched from regular jobs to take on firefighting support roles during the fire season, which typically runs from spring to fall, these people said. USFS Chief Tom Schultz on Wednesday told agency managers to make all of these fire-qualified, so-called "red-carded" staff available for what he called an "extremely challenging" fire year, according to a memo seen by Reuters. Year to date, wildland firefighters have been called to nearly 41,000 blazes, by far the highest number in federal data going back to at least 2015. Wildfires have burned 2.9 million acres year to date, below the 10-year average of 3.3 million acres. Last month, Schultz told a US Senate committee he was trying to temporarily hire back some 1,400 fire-qualified, "red-carded" support staff who took buyouts. "I do believe they are ready," Schultz said when asked about preparedness for the 2025 fire year. Firefighters mow lawns Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who oversees the USFS, said in June at a meeting of Western state governors in New Mexico that the agency was on target to hire 11,300 firefighters by mid-July, outpacing hiring over the past three years. As of June 29, 11,236 or 99 per cent of that number had been hired, slightly below last year's level, according to the most recent USDA data. The USDA disputed claims that staff shortages are endangering communities, forests, and firefighters. [[nid:720022]] "Any suggestion that firefighting responsibilities are being delayed or deprioritized is simply incorrect," a USDA spokesperson said. "This is not a secondary mission — it is the core of our public safety work, and every decision reflects that urgency." New Mexico US Senator Martin Heinrich has criticised the Trump administration's firing and rehiring of 3,400 USFS probationary staff, three-quarters of whom were red-carded, as well as what he called its indiscriminate, agency-wide staff buyouts. "Wildfire season is well underway, and thanks to Doge and Donald Trump, the US Forest Service is being gutted, leaving communities ill equipped to fight deadly wildfires," Heinrich said in an emailed statement on July 11. The Forest Service says it does not have enough wildland firefighters for the country's "wildfire crisis" and relies on red-carded staff to "boost wildland firefighting capacity." Not everyone close to the Forest Service sees problems. Steve Ellis, chairman of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees, said his checks with fire staff in Oregon turned up no reports of firefighters going hungry or other support issues. But Riva Duncan, a fire duty officer on a New Mexico blaze, said even firefighters were being used to plug gaps left by job losses, exacerbating longstanding shortages of personnel to operate fire engines. "They're answering phones at the front desk, or cleaning toilets at campgrounds or mowing the lawn at administrative sites," said Duncan, a retired USFS fire chief who reenlists during fire season and helps run Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a federal firefighter advocacy group. The fire staff officer in the Pacific Northwest said support staff had been told by managers they had to meet the Trump administration's increased timber sales and oil and gas production targets, with fewer employees, before helping firefighters. "They can claim we get all the support we need, but in reality, it isn't even close," said the fire chief, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. [[nid:720254]]
