Trump denies Epstein card claim, moves to unseal testimony: Unbiased Updates, July 18, 2025
A racy birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein, signed by Donald Trump. Trump’s firm denial, and why the president says he’s suing the Wall Street Journal.
Plus, Trump gets a win on the Hill, with $9 billion in spending cuts to public broadcasting, foreign aid and more.
And CBS pulls the plug on Stephen Colbert, an iconic voice in political comedy. The network says it’s not about politics — just the bottom line.
Trump orders Epstein jury testimony release, denies WSJ report
Just as President Trump tries to put the Epstein controversy behind him, two new headlines are dragging it right back into the spotlight.
One, from the Wall Street Journal, claims Trump once signed a bawdy birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein.
The other is a sudden order from the president calling for the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein’s case.
Trump announced the move late Thursday, calling the Epstein saga a “scam” the he says was pushed by the Democrats.
Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek court approval to unseal the transcripts, something legal experts say is highly unusual and could take months.
The timing is notable. Just hours earlier, Trump furiously denied the Wall Street Journal’s exclusive reporting that he once signed a risqué birthday message to Epstein. Printed inside was the outline of a nude woman. The drawing, according to the paper, featured a depiction of breasts, with the name “Donald” scribbled in the groin area.
Surrounding that were several lines of typewritten text, ending with the line: “Happy birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
The card was from 2003 and was for Epstein’s 50th birthday, prior to his conviction on charges of sex trafficking.
On Truth Social, Trump called it a “fake letter” and a “scam,” and vowed to sue both the Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, adding: “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”
He also called the Wall Street Journal a “third rate newspaper.”
The White House hasn’t said if the birthday note or any other personal correspondence is part of the testimony they want unsealed.
A judge will ultimately decide what, if anything, is released.
The renewed focus comes as Trump faces growing criticism, even from many Republican critics, over what they see as broken promises to fully expose Epstein and his alleged connections.
House approves Trump request to cut $9B in government spending
In a win for President Trump, the U.S. House has approved his request to slash $9 billion in federal spending.
The vote happened just after midnight Friday, 216 to 213, just hours before the deadline to get it to the president’s desk. Without that vote, the money would have gone where it was originally slated.
Two Republicans broke ranks and joined all Democrats in voting no: Mike Turner of Ohio and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
“We clawed back $9 billion in taxpayer funds and wasteful spending, fraud, waste and abuse,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. “We’ve been targeting that every area. This was directed to wasteful spending in the previous State Department. Of course, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a couple of other areas. We looked at that and we thought it was a waste of taxpayer funds and we’re taking care of business.”
The package, known as a recissions request, targets $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. Another $8 billion is pulled from foreign aid.
Supporters of the cuts call it a crackdown on “woke pork projects.”
Critics call it a political stunt, saying the bill guts public services and sends a message that culture wars matter more than national needs. Medical experts also warn that foreign aid cuts could contribute to around 14 million preventable deaths worldwide over the next four to five years. Cuts to HIV/AIDS treatments were withdrawn from the bill in part over those concerns.
Trump celebrated the passage on Truth Social, writing: “THIS IS BIG!!!”
He’s expected to sign it into law sometime Friday.
House sends GENIUS Act stablecoin bill to President Trump’s desk
In a major milestone for crypto regulation, the House has passed the so-called GENIUS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) Act — the first-ever crypto-currency bill to clear Congress.
The bill creates a regulatory framework for stablecoins — a type of digital currency tied to traditional assets like the U.S. Dollar or gold, making them less volatile than most other forms of crypto.
If signed by Trump, the law would set standards for stablecoin issuers, while adding safeguards against money laundering and national security risks.
The president has previously voiced support for the bill.
The House also passed two crypto-related bills — one to set up a registration system for digital commodity firms and another to block the Federal Reserve from launching a digital U.S. Dollar.
Judge lifts gag order in Idaho student murders case
A major development this morning in the Idaho student murders cases: The gag order that kept the public and the press largely in the dark is now lifted.
The judge overseeing the case against Bryan Kohberger says there’s no longer a reason to keep it in place, especially now that Kohberger has pleaded guilty to the killing of four University of Idaho students in 2022.
He’ll be sentenced next week, and the judge says the public’s right to know outweighs any remaining concerns over the safety of media coverage.
The gag order had been one of the most restrictive in recent memory, barring nearly everyone involved from saying much at all.
Now, with the trial off the table, sealed documents will begin to roll out, though not all at once. The judge says the full release could take months.
CBS cancels ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’
In a gut punch to fans, CBS is pulling the plug on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The network says it’s exiting the late-night business altogether and ending the iconic show in May of 2026.
CBS frames it as a financial decision, but the timing is hard to ignore. The move comes just weeks after CBS News’ parent company, Paramount, settled a high-profile lawsuit filed by President Trump.
Colbert, known for torching Trump nightly in his comedic monologues, shared news of the cancellation with his audience last night. The audience responded with boos, and Colbert said: “Yeah, I share your feelings.”
CBS insists the cancellation is “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.”
The decision follows company-wide cuts, including a 3.5% workforce reduction last month.
Colbert has helmed the late-night desk since 2014 and was often one of the most-watched voices in political comedy.
NASA releases closest-ever images of the sun
Finally this morning, a stunning new look at the sun, closer than we’ve ever seen, thanks to NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.
These new images were captured just 3.8 million miles from the sun’s surface. That might sound pretty far away, but that’s the closest any man-made object has ever come and still survived.
To put that into perspective: If the sun and Earth were one foot apart, the solar probe would be just half an inch from the sun.
That extreme close-up put the probe inside the sun’s corona — its outermost atmosphere — where temperatures can reach several million degrees Fahrenheit, over one hundred times hotter than the surface of the sun itself.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
