Overview

• President Trump filed a $10 billion defamation suit in Miami against The Wall Street Journal, News Corp, Dow Jones, Rupert Murdoch and two reporters over a report alleging he sent a sexually suggestive 2003 birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein.
• Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the Journal’s exclusion from the Scotland press pool as punishment for what the White House called “fake and defamatory conduct.”
• On July 21, the Justice Department—at Trump’s direction—filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts from the Epstein and Maxwell cases, citing court approval and victim privacy protections.
• Contradictory statements by Attorney General Pam Bondi—who first claimed an Epstein “client list” was on her desk and then presided over a DOJ finding that no such list exists—have intensified MAGA base frustration over promised transparency.
• Right-wing influencers including Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and Elon Musk have publicly accused the administration of betraying its pledge to release all Epstein-related documents.