Trump refiles $10bn defamation suit against WSJ over report on Epstein ties – US politics live | US politics
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Uwa Ede-Osifo
California Governor Gavin Newsom is trying to block Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-gun” initiative fundBy imposing a 100% tax on any payments received by state residents.
In May, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced a fund to compensate alleged “victims of law and arms.” It is unclear who fits into this category.
The fund was the product of a settlement reached between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which he sued over leaks of the president’s tax returns.
Critics, including Newsom, have called the fund a “favour” designed to funnel money to Trump allies. There was speculation that the philanthropists might include people arrested in the US Capitol siege on January 6, 2021. The Trump administration described the rioters as patriots and pardoned most of those charged in connection with the attack.
“People who attack cops and overthrow democracy do not deserve a taxpayer-funded payday,” Newsom wrote in a post to X on Wednesday. announces He explained his plan at a press conference.
According to the New York Times, Guatemala agreed to launch a joint attack with the United States against drug traffickers in its territory.
This move indicates that US President Donald Trump’s pressure on drug cartels operating outside Latin America is increasing.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo acknowledged the attack in a phone call with U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth last week, the Times reported, citing two people familiar with the talks.
Arevalo’s office told The Times that the Central American country had formally requested “cooperation by Guatemalan security forces in operations against drug trafficking organizations” in a letter to Hegseth.
The United States and Guatemala also agreed to “further military action” to target drug gangs, two officials told the newspaper, without providing further details.
Trump reopens $10 billion defamation lawsuit against WSJ over report on Epstein ties
Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics.
Donald Trump has reopened his defamation lawsuit seeking at least $10 billion in damages for the Wall Street Journal’s reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein after a judge rejected an earlier version citing legal flaws.
The lawsuit is one of several the president has filed against news organizations in his personal capacity; It’s part of what critics say is a broader pressure campaign against the media.
The lawsuit alleges that Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper tarnished Murdoch’s reputation with an article revealing that a birthday card given to late sex offender Epstein bore Trump’s signature.
According to Reuters, Trump and his lawyers said the card was fake even after it was released by lawmakers investigating Epstein’s case. According to the amended lawsuit, the president is seeking at least $10 billion in damages; This amount is the same as the amount he requested before.
“At the time of publication, Defendants recklessly disregarded whether the Defamatory Statements were true and/or deliberately avoided discovery of the truth,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the amended complaint.
It comes after the Trump administration launched a criminal investigation into author E Jean Carroll, who accused the president of sexual assault. based on with news reports.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Carroll, 82, made false statements in civil lawsuits she filed against Trump in 2022, the New York Times and CNN reported Wednesday. Carroll said he has not accepted outside financial support for his legal battles.
In other developments:
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Inside A new interview with CBS News, Jill BidenThe former first lady said she was “scared” as she watched her husband, the then-president. Joe BidenHe froze during his disastrous 2024 debate Donald Trump. When pressed to explain what happened, Jill Biden said: “I don’t know what happened. I mean, as I was watching, I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared the hell out of me.”
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Two House Democrats, Don Beyer of Virginia and Dina Titus of Nevada, announced they plan to introduce a bill that would “expressly prohibit President Trump’s proposed ‘triumphal arch’ from being built outside of Arlington National Cemetery.”
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Camera HigbyA right-wing activist posing as a pro-Palestinian activist interrupted a news conference with Democratic congressmen Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman outside the Delaney Hall immigrant detention center in Newark, New Jersey.
