Asks Justice Dept to release Epstein case records

Under intense pressure from US President Donald Trump’s own supporters, his administration on Friday asked a federal court to unseal secret documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case to put to rest for good a political crisis largely of its own making.

But even if those records become public, it’s far from certain they will appease critics enraged over the administration’s unkept pro­mises of full transparency about evidence against the wealthy financier. 

Meanwhile, the administration remains dogged by questions about its refusal to release other records in its possession after stoking conspiracy theories and pledging to uncover government secrets of the “deep state.” 

Furthermore, Trump on Friday sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion, over the newspaper’s report that his name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Epstein that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.

The lawsuit filed in Miami federal court names Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its Chief Executive Robert Thomson, and two WSJ reporters as defendants, saying they defamed Trump and caused him to suffer “overwhelming” financial and reputational harm.

Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. 

Trump has said he parted ways with Epstein before the financier’s legal troubles became public in 2006. The president has vehemently denied the WSJ report, which Reuters has not verified, and had warned Murdoch he planned to sue. Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp.

“We have just filed a powerhouse lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, fake news ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” Trump added.

A spokesperson for Dow Jones said: “We have full confidence in the rigour and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”

The lawsuit called Trump’s alleged birthday greeting “fake”, and said the Journal published its article to harm Trump’s reputation.

“Tellingly, the article does not explain whether defendants have obtained a copy of the letter, have seen it, have had it described to them, or any other circumstances that would otherwise lend credibility to the article,” the lawsuit said. To prevail on his defamation claims, Trump must show the defendants acted with “actual malice”, meaning they knew the article was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth.

A $10 billion award would far exceed the largest defamation judgments and settlements in recent history. These include a $1.5 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Fox News’ se­tt­lement with Dominion Vot­ing Systems for $787.5 million. 

NY to settle lawsuit with ex-aide who accused Cuomo of sexual harassment

New York: New York agreed on Friday to pay $450,000 to settle a lawsuit from an ex-aide to former Governor Andrew Cuomo who alleged Cuomo sexually harassed and groped her while he was in office. The former aide, Brittany Commisso, had sued Cuomo and the state, alleging sexual harassment from the then-governor and retaliation against her after reporting the incidents.

The allegations were part of a barrage similar misconduct claims that forced Cuomo to resign as governor in 2021. The settlement came as Cuomo is in the midst of a so-far bruising political comeback with a run for mayor of New York City. Cuomo lost the Democratic primary last month to Zohran Mamdani by over 12 percentage points and this week relaunched his campaign to run in the general election as an independent candidate.