Latest news with #fakeletter
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Republican lawmaker mocked after brutally falling for a 'fake' Jerome Powell resignation letter
A Utah Republican is being raked over the coals for sharing a fake resignation letter, made out to be from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. GOP Senator Mike Lee shared the fake letter in a post on X with the caption 'Powell's Out!', before he realized his mistake and deleted it. The letter contained several obvious signs of being fake, including a seal that appears to be AI generated. It was also addressed to 'The President, The White House, Washington DC,' and had several oddly placed hyphens in the middle of words. Lee admitted his error to The Hill, stating that 'There appeared to be one, and it occurred to me seconds after I posted it that I hadn't seen it anywhere else, so I deleted it out of an abundance of caution. I don't know whether it's legit or not.' Still, that momentary lapse in judgement drew the ire of social media users who took no pity on Lee. Tim Miller, former communications directors for Jeb Bush 's Presidential campaign and now a writer for the Bulwark mocked Lee, replying on X that the post was deleted out of 'an abundance of caution!' X user John Lindsey, wrote 'Bahahaha, he saw one completely fabricated letter and posted it, even though he hadn't seen it anywhere else. Can we please dump these low iq morons. It's such an embarrassment to the country and the state of Utah.' Another X user who posts under the handle @dmgtexas was much more direct in his approach, adding 'He's so hyper online, his brain is mush.' Senator Mike Lee's tweet sharing the fake resignation letter. The tweet was deleted shortly after it was posted. Lee has circulated falsities online before, including spreading a Russian propaganda video about Ukrainian soldiers, and sharing a fake statement about the death of former President Jimmy Carter. This isn't the first time in recent weeks that Capitol Hill Republicans have made a spectacle of fake resignation letters for longtime government bureaucrats. Freshman GOP class president Brandon Gill wrote up his own fake letter which he made seem to have been written by NPR CEO Katherine Maher, amid Republican attempts to get her resign her post. . @krmaher, I went ahead and wrote your letter of resignation for you—all you have to do is sign it. — Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) July 18, 2025 Gill told Maher that all she had to do was sign the letter. Republicans on Capitol Hill voted in favor of $9 billion in cuts to public media funding last week. Impacted organizations include NPR, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Trump sues Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch and two reporters after Epstein letter report
Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication's owner, News Corp. The US president has raised claims under federal libel law, court records show. The case was filed in Miami. Mr Trump earlier claimed a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was "fake" and said he would sue the "ass off" Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003. It claimed the message, allegedly from Mr Trump, featured several lines of typewritten text, concluding with: "May every day be another wonderful secret." The text was framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the WSJ claimed. The letter is also said to have featured the signature "Donald". Mr Trump immediately denied writing the letter when the WSJ report was published on Thursday night. 2:28 "The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein," he wrote on Truth Social. "These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn't print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I'm going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper." Mr Trump ignored questions about Epstein as he signed a cryptocurrency bill at the White House earlier on Friday. The president's lawsuit comes as the US government filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019. In a Manhattan federal court filing, the Department of Justice said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest, justifying the release of associated grand jury transcripts. Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of "the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein". The justice department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more. It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony, which is typically kept secret under US law. The president has faced increased scrutiny over his alleged friendship with Epstein since his administration's U-turn on the so-called 'Epstein files'. Mr Trump pledged to release files on Epstein during his presidential campaign, as his MAGA movement accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein's paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called "client list" - thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in his child sex trafficking operation. But after a review of the evidence the US government has, the Justice Department recently determined that no "further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted". Venezuela releases jailed Americans in prisoner swap The Trump administration said on Friday that it had negotiated an exchange with Venezuela, resulting in the release of 10 jailed Americans. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the prisoners, who had been held in the South American country, were "on their way to freedom". In return, 252 Venezuelan migrants being held in El Salvador have been freed, the Venezuelan government said.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Donald Trump files libel lawsuit over Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Epstein 'birthday card' claim
Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication's owner, News Corp. The US president has raised claims under federal libel law, court records show. The case was filed in Miami. earlier claimed a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile was "fake" and the "ass off" Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003. It claimed the message allegedly from Mr Trump featured several lines of typewritten text, concluding with: "May every day be another wonderful secret." The text was framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the WSJ claimed. The letter is also said to have featured the signature "Donald". Mr Trump immediately denied writing the letter when the WSJ report was published on Thursday night. "The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein," he wrote on Truth Social. "These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn't print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I'm going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper." Mr Trump ignored questions about Epstein as he signed a cryptocurrency bill at the White House earlier on Friday. The president's lawsuit comes as the US government filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019. In a Manhattan federal court filing, the Department of Justice said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest, justifying the release of associated grand jury transcripts. Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of "the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein". The justice department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more. It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony - which is typically kept secret under US law. Read more: The president has faced increased scrutiny over his alleged friendship with Epstein since his administration's U-turn on the so-called 'Epstein files'. While running for his second White House term, Mr Trump fuelled the idea there was a "client list" of powerful people had threatened to blackmail and vowed to unseal documents relating to Epstein if he returned to the Oval Office. But after a review of evidence the US government is in possession of, the Justice Department recently determined that no "further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted". This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the latest version. You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Donald Trump files libel lawsuit over Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Epstein 'birthday card' claim
Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication's owner, News Corp. The US president has raised claims under federal libel law, court records show. The case was filed in Miami. Mr Trump earlier claimed a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was "fake" and said he would sue the "ass off" Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a birthday present in 2003. Please refresh the page for the latest version.
Sky News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Trump denies claim he wrote birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein - and says he has ordered release of more case files
Donald Trump has called an alleged letter he wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein "fake" and said he will sue the "ass off" Rupert Murdoch, who owns the paper that first published the claim. In multiple posts on Truth Social, the US president accused The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of fabricating the letter that it claimed was written by Mr Trump as part of a collection of letters addressed to Epstein that his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell planned to give him as a birthday present in 2003. According to documents seen by the WSJ, Mr Trump's letter featured several lines of typewritten text framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman. The paper said the letter concludes "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret", and featured the signature "Donald", allegedly drawn across the woman's waist, meant to mimic the appearance of pubic hair. Responding to the WSJ's claims, Mr Trump wrote: "The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures. "I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn't print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I'm going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DJT." He said earlier he would also sue the WSJ and News Corp, which Mr Murdoch owns. The WSJ is published by News Corp subsidiary company, Dow Jones & Co. 1:47 In a separate post, Mr Trump said he has asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to release "any and all pertinent grand jury testimony" in the case of the paedophile financier who was found dead in his Manhattan cell in August 2019, shortly after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges. The release of any documents, Mr Trump said, would be subject to approval by a court. The justice department has previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more. It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony - which is typically kept secret under US law. Ms Bondi responded to the president on X, writing: "President Trump-we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts." 👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈 The Trump administration has come under criticism after the president appeared to U-turn on his own promise to release more information about the Epstein case publicly. In the run-up to the US election last year, Mr Trump drew on rumours and conspiracy theories that appeared to accuse the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein's paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called "client list" - thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in a child sex trafficking operation. Ms Bondi fuelled these rumours in February by telling Fox News that the alleged Epstein client list was "sitting on my desk right now to review". In the same month, the Justice Department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations. After a months-long review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files related to the case would be made public. The decision was criticised by many in Mr Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, who Mr Trump later called "weaklings".
