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PBS News Hour - Segments

News Wrap: Democrats release birthday message Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein

PBS News Hour - Segments

PBS NewsHour

News, Daily News

4.11K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In our news wrap Monday, House Democrats released a letter that Donald Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein for a 2003 birthday book, the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to keep nearly five billion dollars in foreign aid frozen and a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that ordered President Trump to pay $83 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0

In the day's other headlines, House Democrats released a letter today that Donald Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein for a 2003 birthday book for the later convicted sex offender.

0:11.8

The Epstein estate provided the letter to lawmakers, which they posted online.

0:16.2

It depicts a woman's body with the name Donald signed at the bottom.

0:20.4

Deputy White House Chief of Staff Taylor Budowitzich responded online that that is not the President's

0:25.6

signature.

0:26.6

Trump himself has previously denied writing any such letter and filed a $10 billion

0:31.6

lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for defamation saying the letter is fake.

0:35.6

The posting of the letter today comes amid a bipartisan

0:38.5

push in Congress for the release of further files on Epstein, who killed himself in prison in

0:44.2

2019 while awaiting trial. The president has not been accused of any misconduct. The Trump

0:50.7

administration is asking the Supreme Court to keep nearly $5 billion in foreign aid frozen.

0:57.2

Today's emergency application comes after President Trump last month used a rare maneuver called a pocket rescission to essentially bypass Congress and holding up the funds.

1:07.1

Last week, U.S. District Judge Ali Amir found that action was likely illegal and ordered the administration to spend the money.

1:15.0

In today's filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said that ruling, quote, raises a grave and urgent threat to the separation of powers.

1:24.0

A federal appeals court upheld a ruling today that ordered President Trump to pay $83 million

1:30.3

to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her. The three-judge panel in New York was unanimous

1:35.3

in rejecting Trump's argument that he deserved presidential immunity from Carol's lawsuit.

1:41.3

The case stems from Trump's repeated social media attacks against Carol

1:45.2

after she accused him of sexual assault in a Bergdorf-Gudman dressing room back in 1996.

1:50.8

The president has also been found liable for sexually abusing Carol in a separate trial

1:56.6

that was also upheld on appeal late last year. The Prime Minister of France lost a confidence vote today,

2:03.6

toppling his minority government and deepening a political crisis

...

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