First Thing: Trump requests release of Epstein grand jury transcripts amid report of ‘bawdy' birthday note

The Guardian

18-07-2025

Good morning.
Donald Trump said he has requested the release of grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking case, as controversy grows over reports alleging he contributed a sketch of a naked woman to Epstein's 50th birthday album.
The president said on Truth Social that he had authorized the justice department to seek the public release of the materials, with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, saying she would comply with the directive.
It comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had contributed a 'bawdy' letter that featured a drawing of a naked woman, with a typewritten personal message to Epstein, to an album compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003.
What has Trump said about the story? He has decried it as a hoax and vowed to sue the Journal.
What was the relationship between the pair? They fell out over a Florida property bidding war in 2004 and Trump further distanced himself from Epstein following the financier's conviction for child sex offences in 2008. But before that, they were friends for 15 years. Here is a detailed view of their relationship over the years.
Donald Trump has given a New York prosecutor a new job title to keep him in post despite federal judges rejecting his appointment.
After a judicial panel refused to make John Sarcone III a permanent US attorney for New York's northern district, the justice department named him 'special attorney to the attorney general' – a title that grants him the same powers and no time limit.
It is just the latest example of Trump's maneuvers to get around traditional oversight mechanisms: his administration has formally nominated only around a quarter of its attorney generals, instead using interim appointments to bypass Senate confirmation.
What issues has Sarcone's appointment faced? A key problem has been that an address he listed as his legal residence turned out to be a boarded-up building. US attorneys must live within their district.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill to slash funding for foreign aid and public media early on Friday, with just two House Republicans voting against the cut. The legislation will now go to the White House to be signed into law.
The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, argued against the Republican view that the bill cuts back wasteful spending, saying it undermines the US's soft power and ability to keep its people safe, as well as threatening rural Americans' access to emergency information via public radio.
Who voted against it? The Democrats were joined by Republican representatives Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania and Mike Turner from Ohio in voting against.
Hundreds were killed over four days in southern Syria, with witnesses saying it was impossible to distinguish between state security forces and rogue militias as sectarian divisions remain rife in the country.
Tens of thousands of people at 1,500 sites across the US joined anti-Trump protests on Thursday, on the fifth anniversary of the death of congressman and voting rights advocate John Lewis.
A farmer who helped carry medical supplies to treat demonstrators injured in Iran's 2022 protests is on death row, his family and campaigners said.
Colleagues have voiced their support for a California professor who was charged with assaulting a federal officer during an immigration raid at a cannabis farm that led to a worker's death.
Medicaid has reportedly struck a deal with immigration authorities to give agents access to a wide range of Americans' personal data, from addresses and social security numbers to information on ethnicity, in what critics have condemned as a major privacy violation. This is despite undocumented migrants generally being ineligible for Medicaid – and only 6% of recipients being noncitizens, according to the healthcare research non-profit the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Almost 25 years after Linkin Park released their debut album, this month the band played their biggest headline gig to date, at Wembley stadium in London. They told Rachel Aroesti about moving forward as a band given the backlash faced by their new frontwoman, Emily Armstrong, who replaced Chester Bennington after he died by suicide in 2017.
Tackling the climate emergency has a democracy problem: authoritarian countries produce the majority of the world's emissions, while many of the major suppliers of oil and gas are also undemocratic. Fiona Harvey looks at why this matters, as the a small number of autocratic states wield more power over the planet's future than ever before, and what can be done.
Denis Kwan Hong-Wang is a world champion in spacing out – and he's got the trophy to prove it. The Hong Konger entered the Space‑Out competition last year, a contest in which participants sit still in silence for 90 minutes, staring blankly ahead. Their ability to do nothing is judged by an audience, and their heart rate is measured. The space-out champion noted that winning the quirky competition reminded him that in today's non-stop society we all need to take some time out 'to do the things that nourish us, or just to have the space to do nothing'.
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now.
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email [e-mail]