Trump says Democrats may have ‘put things in’ Epstein files and claims to have turned down island invite: Live updates

Donald Trump on Monday asked a U.S. judge to order a swift deposition for billionaire Rupert Murdoch in the president’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its July 17 article about Trump’s relationship with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The following day, the president sued the Journal, its owners, including Murdoch, and the reporters who wrote the story, asserting Trump’s name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Epstein that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.

In a court filing on Monday, lawyers for Trump requested that the federal court in Miami, Florida, compel Murdoch, 94, to testify within 15 days, citing his advanced age as a reason.

Dow Jones, the Journal‘s publisher, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dow Jones has stated that the paper stands by its reporting and will vigorously defend against the lawsuit.

With reporting from Reuters

At his press conference with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, questions from reporters prompted an extended digression by President Donald Trump into the Jeffrey Epstein case as Starmer sat quietly at the president’s side.

Asked about a Wall Street Journal report that said he allegedly drew a picture in a birthday letter for Jeffrey Epstein years ago, Trump said, “I don’t do drawings, I’m not a drawing person.”

He said he would make exceptions for charity — sketching buildings, but insisted, “I don’t do drawings of women.”

The Journal report says the letter signed by Trump included a provocative drawing of a woman.

Here’s our earlier reporting on Trump the charity artist:

President Donald Trump said that he turned down an invitation to Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious island, characterizing the decision as “one of my very good moments.”

Rhian Lubin has the story.

Asked about the ongoing furore over the Trump administration’s reversal on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein case files during an appearance in his home state of Ohio, Vice President JD Vance said the government isn’t hiding anything.

Vance said Trump asked the attorney general to release all “credible information,” but the process “takes time.”

The Justice Department recently stated that it wouldn’t release any more information in the case, but, at Trump’s direction, has ordered grand jury transcripts to be made public. One judge has denied that request, while a second judge has yet to rule.

Vance said Trump, who was an acquaintance of Epstein before they had a falling out, wants “full transparency” in the case. Vance alleged that prior administrations went “easy on this guy.”

With reporting from the Associated Press

CNN’s Jake Tapper repeatedly fact-checked a Republican senator on air Sunday as the lawmaker insisted that Democrats and Barack Obama’s administration were at fault for a “sweetheart” deal that allowed Jeffrey Epstein to escape his 2008 conviction on child sex charges virtually unscathed.

“This is a pretty substantial distraction,” one person close to the situation told The Washington Post.

Rhian Lubin has the details.

President Donald Trump on Monday baselessly suggested that any mentions of his name in criminal case files related to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein would be there as a result of Democratic efforts to ensnare him in a “hoax.”