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President Donald Trump attempted Friday to control the storm triggered by a bombshell report on his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, ordering the Justice Department to seek the release of testimony from the prosecution of the late, alleged sex-trafficker-to-the-famous.Trump also vowed to sue “the ass off” The Wall Street Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch after the newspaper said that in 2003 the future president wrote a raunchy letter to Epstein, referring to their shared “secret.””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 wrote on his Truth Social platform.Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department would ask a court to unseal grand jury testimony from the case against Epstein, apparently in hopes of dampening fury among many of Trump’s most loyal supporters over what they see as a White House cover-up.Epstein, a financier, was found hanging dead in his cell in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that sexually exploited dozens of underage girls at his homes in New York and Florida.The case sparked conspiracy theories, especially among Trump’s far-right voters, about an alleged international cabal of wealthy pedophiles. Epstein’s death — declared a suicide — before he could face trial super-charged the narrative.When Trump returned to power for a second term this January, his supporters clamored for revelations about Epstein’s supposed list of clients. But Bondi issued an official memo in July declaring that there was no such list.The discontent in Trump’s MAGA, or Make America Great Again, base poses a rare challenge to the 79-year-old Republican’s control of the political narrative in America.It remained unclear whether a court would authorize the unsealing of what is usually highly secret grand jury testimony.Even if such material were made public, it was also unclear whether it would shed much, if any, light on the main questions raised in the conspiracy theories — particularly the existence and possible contents of an Epstein client list.- Naked woman and signature -Trump was friends with Epstein and the two were photographed and videoed together at parties over the years, although there has never been evidence shown of wrongdoing.The Wall Street Journal article published late Thursday was damaging because it indicated a shared interest in sex.The Journal reported that Trump had wished Epstein a happy 50th birthday in 2003 with a letter featuring a hand-drawn naked woman and referring to their “secrets.” The letter was reportedly among a slew of well-wishes from other rich and well-known figures for a birthday album.A furious Trump said on Truth Social that the purported letter was a “Scam” and “Fake.”Trump also said that the Journal’s chief editor, Emma Tucker, had been told the letter was fake and that she shouldn’t publish it.According to the Journal, the Trump letter contained the outline of a naked woman, apparently drawn with a marker pen, and had the future president’s signature “Donald” mimicking pubic hair. It ends, according to the newspaper, with “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”Trump reacted in a series of furious social media posts, saying “it’s not my language. It’s not my words.””I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said.

US aviation giant Boeing on Thursday signed a contract worth billions of dollars to sell 12 787 Dreamliners, with options for six more, to Gulf Air, as the Bahrain-based carrier looks to expand its global network.The order comes one month after an Air India Boeing 787 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing a total of 260 people on the plane and on the ground.”Once finalized, this order will bring the carrier’s firm order book to 14 of the versatile wide-body jets and will support 30,000 jobs across the US,” the companies said in a joint statement.The official Bahrain News Agency said the kingdom’s national carrier had signed a $4.6 billion agreement for 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.The US Commerce Department put the value of the 18 planes at $7 billion.The deal “marks a transformative step in Gulf Air’s strategic growth journey as we expand our global footprint and modernize our fleet with one of the industry’s most advanced and efficient aircraft,” said Gulf Air Group chairman Khalid Taqi.”The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has proven to be an exceptional aircraft for our long-haul operations, and this new order reflects our confidence in its performance, passenger appeal and contribution to our sustainability goals.”Boeing delivered 150 commercial aircraft in the second quarter, its highest number of deliveries in that quarter since 2018. That was just before two 737 MAX crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 — which killed 346 people — plunged the company into crisis.The Air India jet bound for London crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12. A preliminary investigation report revealed that fuel control switches were switched off shortly after takeoff. Boeing has not been asked to take any action as the probe continues.US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a trade pact with Indonesia that limits tariffs on Indonesian products at 19 percent, and said the deal features a pledge from the country to buy 50 Boeing jets, “many of them 777s.”

Donald Trump’s administration said it would seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, as the US president sought to dispel lingering political fallout over his team’s handling of the late financier’s sex trafficking case.Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department will ask a court to unseal the grand jury transcripts, as Trump’s relationship with Epstein came under the spotlight again over an alleged off-color letter published by the Wall Street Journal.Trump called the letter a scam and threatened to sue “the ass off” the WSJ and its owner Rupert Murdoch.He has been facing a firestorm over his past relationship with Epstein, as well as claims that his administration is covering up lurid details of Epstein’s crimes to protect rich and powerful figures.Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 — during Trump’s first term — after being charged with federal sex trafficking in a scheme where he allegedly groomed young and underage women for sexual abuse by his wealthy contacts.He was previously required to register as a sex offender in Florida after pleading guilty to two felony prostitution-related charges.The article in the Journal says the letter featuring a sketch of a naked woman and Trump’s signature was part of a collection of notes for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.The newspaper says it reviewed the letter but did not print an image.”I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.”But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”Trump said in an earlier post WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker “was told directly by (White House press secretary) Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE.”The Republican president called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.””Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” he wrote on Truth Social late on Thursday.Shortly after, Bondi said on social media that the Justice Department intended to seek the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in court on Friday.Whether she would succeed remained uncertain, given the strict secrecy surrounding grand jury transcripts.”President Trump — we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” Bondi wrote.- ‘Another wonderful secret’ -The alleged letter is raunchy, as were others in the collection, the Journal reported. It contains several lines of typewritten text, contained in an outline of a naked woman drawn with a marker.”The future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,” the Journal reported.”The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.'”Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the figure, telling the Journal: “This is not me. This is a fake thing.””I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”- Epstein row -The Trump-supporting far-right has long latched onto the Epstein scandal, claiming the existence of a still-secret client list and that he was murdered in his cell as part of a cover-up.Trump supporters expected the Republican to answer their questions on his return to office in January but now find themselves being told the conspiracy theories are false.The Justice Department and FBI said in a memo made public this month that there was no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” or was blackmailing powerful people.They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his suicide, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe.That could change if grand jury testimony or evidence are released.US media reported on Thursday that a federal prosecutor who handled Epstein’s case, who is the daughter of a prominent Trump critic, was abruptly fired.Maurene Comey, whose father is former FBI director James Comey, was dismissed Wednesday from her position as an assistant US attorney in Manhattan, the reports said.Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that the WSJ “should be ashamed” for publishing the story.However, Democratic lawmaker Pat Ryan wrote: “I think we now know EXACTLY why Donald Trump refuses to release the Epstein files.”

Hundreds of television and radio stations across the United States risk seeing their resources evaporate, after President Donald Trump prevailed Friday in scrapping federal funding for public broadcasting.The cuts follow Trump’s accusations of ideological bias and will deal a bitter blow to information dissemination nationwide, including rural areas with limited news resources. At the Republican president’s urging, lawmakers along party lines approved the clawback of $1.1 billion in funding already allocated by Congress over the next two years to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.Created in 1967 by president Lyndon Johnson, the non-profit CPB finances a minority share of the budgets of national radio and television mainstays NPR and PBS.But the unprecedented rescission will also critically impact some 1,500 local radio and TV stations, from the East Coast to Alaska, that air part of the public broadcasters’ content.”Without federal funding, many local public radio and television stations will be forced to shut down,” warned CPB president Patricia Harrison.- Connection -Stations have been sounding the alarm for months. Prairie Public Broadcasting, which has served North Dakota for 60 years, estimates it could lose 26 percent of its budget between combined cuts in state and CPB funding. For Vermont Public, a broadcaster in the US Northeast, $4 million in funding is at stake.”We’re going to be forced to make some really difficult decisions about what local programming stays and what local programming we have to cut,” said Ryan Howlett, who heads the financial arm of South Dakota Public Broadcasting, which oversees a dozen local radio stations and as many local TV stations.In this rural and conservative state, “you’re going to lose a connection point that binds us together,” he told AFP.Trump has made very public his hostility to the media, which he often brands “fake news” and the “enemy of the people,” a driving force behind his political rhetoric. In early May, Trump issued an executive order requiring an end to the subsidization of NPR and PBS, saying “neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.””These are partisan, leftwing outlets that are funded by the taxpayers, and this administration does not believe it’s a good use of the taxpayers’ time and money,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.Howlett emphasized that there is little such criticism in local communities in South Dakota. “We’re part of people’s everyday lives,” he said.- Turning point -The elimination of CPB funding, advocated by the “Project 2025” blueprint of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, marks a turning point. Other attempts in the past had met with opposition from lawmakers, including Republicans in rural areas.Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University in Boston, stressed it is in those very areas where the funding cuts are likely to have “a devastating effect.”For remote communities, “these stations are an absolute lifeline,” he said. “This is where people go to find out a tornado is coming,” or about other emergency news.Such arguments were rejected by Heritage Foundation fellow Mike Gonzalez, who wrote the chapter on public broadcasting in the Project 2025 blueprint.For him, “state and local governments can devise and set up systems that take care of the problem, on a much cheaper basis than the entire public broadcasting apparatus, and without the attendant ills that accompany the present system.”The end of the federal funding is undoubtedly a blow to local news in the United States.Due to declining readership and the consolidation of titles under larger corporations, more than a third of the nation’s newspapers have shuttered since 2005, a loss of 3,300 titles, according to a report from the Medill School at Northwestern University.According to a recent map drawn by analysis firm Muck Rack and the Rebuild Local News coalition, there are now only 8.2 journalists per 100,000 Americans, down from 40 in the early 2000s.

US Republicans early Friday approved President Donald Trump’s plan to cancel $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, vowing it was just the start of broader efforts by Congress to slash the federal budget.The cuts achieve only a tiny fraction of the $1 trillion in annual savings that tech billionaire and estranged Trump donor Elon Musk vowed to find before his acrimonious exit in May from a role spearheading federal cost-cutting.But Republicans — who recently passed a domestic policy bill expected to add more than $3 trillion to US debt — said the vote honored Trump’s election campaign pledge to rein in runaway spending.”President Trump and House Republicans promised fiscal responsibility and government efficiency,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement just after the vote.”Today, we’re once again delivering on that promise.”Both chambers of Congress are Republican-controlled, meaning a mostly party-line House of Representatives vote of 216 to 213, moments after midnight, was sufficient to approve the Senate-passed measure.The bill now heads to the White House to be signed by Trump, who praised his backers in the House. “REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED DOING THIS FOR 40 YEARS, AND FAILED… BUT NO MORE. THIS IS BIG!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.Most of the cuts target programs for countries hit by disease, war and natural disasters. But the move also scraps $1.1 billion that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was due to receive over the next two years.Conservatives say the funding — which goes mostly to more than 1,500 local public radio and TV stations, as well as to public broadcasters NPR and PBS — is unnecessary and has funded biased coverage.The bill originally included $400 million in cuts to a global AIDS program that is credited with saving 26 million lives, but that funding was saved by a rebellion by moderate Republicans. – ‘Dark day’ -The vote was a win for Trump and fiscal hawks seeking to support the mission of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launched by Musk as Trump was swept to power, for radical savings.Congress had already approved the cash that was clawed back, and Democrats framed the bill as a betrayal of the bipartisan government funding process.They fear Trump’s victory clears the way for more “rescissions packages” canceling agreed spending.”Instead of protecting the health, safety and well-being of the American people, House Republicans have once again rubber stamped Donald Trump’s extreme, reckless rescissions legislation,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement with fellow top Democrats.Republicans need some Democratic votes to keep the government funded past September, and the minority party had threatened to abandon any plans for cooperation if the DOGE cuts went ahead.Jeffries and fellow Democrats seemed to suggest as much on Friday.”Tonight’s vote… makes it clear that House Republicans are determined to march this country toward a painful government shutdown later this year,” they said in the statement.Although they are in the minority, Democrats have leverage in funding fights because a budget deal would need at least 60 votes in the 100-member Senate and Republicans only have 53 seats.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “a dark day for any American who relies on public broadcasting during floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other disasters.”White House budget chief Russell Vought told an event hosted Thursday by the Christian Science Monitor that the administration was likely to send another rescissions package to Congress.

US President Donald Trump threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal and owner Rupert Murdoch Thursday over a story about an alleged off-color letter he wrote to Jeffrey Epstein, amid lingering political fallout over his administration’s handling of the late financier’s sex trafficking case.The article in the Journal says the letter featuring a sketch of a naked woman and Trump’s signature was part of a collection of notes for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.The newspaper says it reviewed the letter but did not print an image.”I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.”But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”In an earlier post, Trump said Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker “was told directly by (White House press secretary) Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE”.The Republican president called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory”.”President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. (Rupert) Murdoch, shortly. The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist,” the post added.Trump was already facing a firestorm over his past relationship with Epstein, and claims that his administration is covering up lurid details of Epstein’s crimes to protect rich and powerful figures.Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 — during Trump’s first term — after being charged with federal sex trafficking in a scheme where he allegedly groomed young and underage women for sexual abuse by his wealthy contacts.He was previously required to register as a sex offender in Florida after pleading guilty to two felony prostitution-related charges.On Thursday, Trump asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to release transcripts of grand jury testimony in the Epstein case, “subject to court approval.”- ‘Another wonderful secret’ -The alleged letter — which Trump denies writing — is raunchy, as were others in the collection, the Journal reported. It contains several lines of typewritten text, contained in an outline of a naked woman drawn with a marker.”The future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,” the Journal reported.”The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.'”Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the figure, telling the Journal: “This is not me. This is a fake thing.””I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”Murdoch, who controls the NewsCorp global media company, was in Trump’s suite Sunday at MetLife Stadium outside New York City for the FIFA Club World Cup final.The media mogul also owns conservative Americans’ preferred TV news channel, Fox News, which scored the first TV interview with Trump upon his return to the White House in January.The president has regularly praised Fox and its presenters over the years — and even hired some to his administration.- Epstein row -The Trump-supporting far-right has long latched onto the Epstein scandal, claiming the existence of a still-secret client list and that he was murdered in his cell as part of a cover-up.Trump supporters expected the Republican to answer their questions on his return to office in January but now find themselves being told the conspiracy theories are false.The Justice Department and FBI said in a memo made public this month that there is no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” or was blackmailing powerful people.They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his suicide, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe.That could change if grand jury testimony or evidence are released.On Thursday, US media reported that a federal prosecutor who handled Epstein’s case, who is the daughter of a prominent Trump critic, was abruptly fired.Maurene Comey, whose father is former FBI director James Comey, was dismissed Wednesday from her position as an assistant US attorney in Manhattan, the reports said.Comey also prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, the only former Epstein associate who has been criminally charged in connection with his activities.Maxwell is the person who compiled the leather-bound book of letters for Epstein in 2003, The Journal reported.”The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it. Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it?” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X.Meanwhile, Democratic lawmaker Pat Ryan wrote: “I think we now know EXACTLY why Donald Trump refuses to release the Epstein files.”

US Republicans early Friday approved President Donald Trump’s plan to cancel $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, vowing it was just the start of broader efforts by Congress to slash the federal budget.The cuts achieve only a tiny fraction of the $1 trillion in annual savings that tech billionaire and estranged Trump donor Elon Musk vowed to find before his acrimonious exit in May from a role spearheading federal cost-cutting.But Republicans — who recently passed a domestic policy bill expected to add more than $3 trillion to US debt — said the vote honored Trump’s election campaign pledge to rein in runaway spending.”President Trump and House Republicans promised fiscal responsibility and government efficiency,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement just after the vote.”Today, we’re once again delivering on that promise.”Both chambers of Congress are Republican-controlled, meaning a party-line House of Representatives vote of 216 to 213, moments after midnight, was sufficient to rubber-stamp the Senate-passed measure.Most of the cuts target programs for countries hit by disease, war and natural disasters but the move also scraps $1.1 billion that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was due to receive over the next two years.Conservatives say the funding — which goes mostly to more than 1,500 local public radio and TV stations, as well as to public broadcasters NPR and PBS — is unnecessary and has funded biased coverage.

US President Donald Trump threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal Thursday over a story about an alleged off-color letter he wrote to Jeffrey Epstein, amid lingering political fallout over his administration’s handling of the late financier’s sex trafficking case.The Journal story says the letter featuring a sketch of a naked woman and Trump’s signature was part of a collection of notes for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.The newspaper says it reviewed the letter but did not print an image.Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker “was told directly by (White House press secretary) Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social network.”Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway,” he said.”President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. (Rupert) Murdoch, shortly. The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist.”The Republican president was already facing a firestorm over his past relationship with Epstein, and claims that his administration is covering up lurid details of Epstein’s crimes to protect rich and powerful figures.Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 — during Trump’s first term — after being charged with federal sex trafficking in a scheme where he allegedly groomed young and underage women for sexual abuse by his wealthy contacts.He was previously required to register as a sex offender in Florida after pleading guilty to two felony prostitution-related charges.Later Thursday, Trump asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to release transcripts of grand jury testimony in the Epstein case, “subject to court approval.”- ‘Another wonderful secret’ -The alleged letter — which Trump denies writing — is raunchy, as were others in the collection, the Journal reported. It contains several lines of typewritten text, contained in an outline of a naked woman drawn with a marker.”The future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,” the Journal reported.”The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.'”Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the figure, telling the Journal: “This is not me. This is a fake thing.””I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”Murdoch, who controls the NewsCorp global media company, was in Trump’s suite Sunday at MetLife Stadium outside New York City for the FIFA Club World Cup final.- Epstein row -The Trump-supporting far-right has long latched onto the Epstein scandal, claiming the existence of a still-secret client list and that he was murdered in his cell as part of a cover-up.Trump supporters expected the Republican to answer their questions on his return to office in January but now find themselves being told the conspiracy theories are false.The Justice Department and FBI said in a memo made public earlier this month there is no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” or was blackmailing powerful people.They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his suicide, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe.That could change if grand jury testimony or evidence are released.On Thursday, US media reported that a federal prosecutor who handled Epstein’s case, who is the daughter of a prominent Trump critic, was abruptly fired.Maurene Comey, whose father is former FBI director James Comey, was dismissed Wednesday from her position as an assistant US attorney in Manhattan, the reports said.Comey also prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, the only former Epstein associate who has been criminally charged in connection with his activities.Maxwell is the person who compiled the leather-bound book of letters for Epstein in 2003, The Journal reported.”The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it. Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it?” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X.Meanwhile, Democratic lawmaker Pat Ryan wrote: “I think we now know EXACTLY why Donald Trump refuses to release the Epstein files.”

California will sue President Donald Trump’s administration over its decision to cancel billions of dollars in federal funding for the construction of a long-delayed high-speed rail line, the state’s governor said Thursday.”Trump’s termination of federal grants for California high-speed rail reeks of politics. It’s yet another political stunt to punish California,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “We’re suing to stop Trump from derailing America’s only high-speed rail actively under construction,” Newsom said, adding that cancelling the funds would put “real jobs and livelihoods on the line.”A Democratic stronghold, California has been the target of Trump’s ire since his return to office, and is already waging multiple legal challenges against the federal government.The dream of a train linking Los Angeles with San Francisco some 380 miles (610 kilometers) away in just two hours and 40 minutes has been over 15 years in the making.But the project launched in 2008 to connect the two main cities of the country’s most populous state has seen numerous hold ups and overshot budgets. According to the governor, it is expected to create 15,000 jobs.On Wednesday, Trump announced he was cutting federal funding earmarked for the project.”Not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again,” he posted on social media, using a pejorative name for the Democrat governor, a bitter political rival of the president.During his first term, the Republican leader had already canceled funding for the rail line, but the move was suspended after California challenged it in court.When Democrat Joe Biden assumed the presidency in 2021, he restored the funds. Trump’s administration threatened to cancel $4 billion earmarked for the project in June after a report by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) concluded that the initial section of the line would not be completed by a 2033 deadline. Even if California’s challenge succeeds again, the axed funding is a serious blow to the project, with new delays almost inevitable.Unlike in Europe or Asia, passenger rail travel is one of the least developed forms of transportation in the United States, with high-speed rail virtually non-existent.The country’s first fully high-speed rail line, planned to run about 220 miles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, is expected to be completed by 2028, in time for the Olympic Games.