July 18, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appears during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, in Washington, DC.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard today threatened to refer Obama administration officials to the Justice Department for prosecution over the intelligence assessment of Russia’s 2016 election interference in the latest example of Trump officials going after perceived enemies of President Donald Trump from the Obama era.

Gabbard declassified documents that she claimed were evidence the Obama administration intelligence officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork” for the FBI’s Russia investigation into Trump.

In a post on X, Gabbard said she was “turning over all documents to the DOJ for criminal referral,” though she didn’t specify whether she was referring any specific officials. A criminal referral does not necessarily mean the Justice Department will investigate.

Earlier this month, however, CNN reported that the FBI is investigating former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey for possible false statements to Congress following a referral from the current CIA Director John Ratcliffe, which was also related to the intelligence assessment on Russia’s election interference.

Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe declassified documents this month as part of an effort to undermine the intelligence community’s 2017 assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election and tried to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, a conclusion that contributed to Trump’s longstanding distrust of the intelligence community.

Other reviews did not discover such issues, however, including a bipartisan 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report that supported the intelligence community’s assessment of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

Democrats criticized Gabbard’s release today as an attempt to “rewrite history.”

You can also watch her interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on YouTube here

President Donald Trump delivers remarks to Republican senators during a dinner in the State Dining Room of the White House on Friday.

President Donald Trump praised his Senate allies during a White House dinner tonight, celebrating his legislative victories while avoiding mention of the lawsuit he’s filed against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, which he announced on Truth Social moments before taking his place at the lectern.

Trump earlier today filed a libel lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and reporters who wrote a story about a collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, including a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman. But the president made no mention of the Epstein saga at the dinner, instead focusing on his 2024 electoral win, as well as what he cast as his domestic and foreign policy victories.

In a nod to his party’s margins in the House and Senate, Trump joked Republicans are just “a heart attack away from losing the Senate.”

“We were just hoping everybody’s going to stay good and healthy,” he said.

Looking forward, he cast a rosy picture for his party’s electoral future.

President Donald Trump announced today he’s filed what he called “a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit” against The Wall Street Journal, owner Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the Journal’s parent company and the authors of a report published yesterday detailing an alleged letter bearing Trump’s name that was sent to Jeffrey Epstein to mark the disgraced financier’s 50th birthday.

CNN reported earlier today that Trump filed the suit in Southern Florida alleging the report defamed Trump in an escalation of the president’s ongoing legal campaign against media companies he views as opponents.

The president’s post today also took aim at many of his perceived enemies in the media, who he’s slammed for critical coverage in the past, including CBS News, ABC News, the Pulitzer Prize board, “and many others who deal in, and push, disgusting LIES, and even FRAUD, to the American People.”

“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 wrote.

Retired California superior court judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell appears on CNN on Friday.

It could take a while before grand jury testimony made against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is seen by the public if a federal judge chooses to release the transcripts, according to a former judge.

She said Judge Richard M. Berman — who today was asked by the Justice Department to make public the testimony against Epstein — will have to first read through the transcripts and determine whether the public interest in disclosing them outweighs the need for secrecy. He will also consider how long ago these proceedings were and consider the impact that releasing them could have on the victims who gave the testimony, Hazzard said.

The former judge went on to note that if Berman does decide to release the transcripts, the material could be redacted heavily.

“If these transcripts are out, it’s likely that a judge would also redact the names of any individuals that, maybe, that came up that might be prosecuted later on,” she said. “So you’re really not going to get what people I think really want, which is what you mentioned, the names.”

The Department of Justice building is seen on Friday in Washington DC.

Grand jury testimony made behind closed doors in the Jeffrey Epstein case is a “minuscule fraction of the entire file,” CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said today, as the Justice Department asks a federal judge to make that testimony public.

It is typically more common for witnesses to testify outside of a grand jury, to prosecutors or the FBI, for example, Honig explained.

Grand jury information is secret and contains confidential information. The government will have to argue to the judge that it qualifies for an exception to make it public.

Paula Reid, CNN’s chief legal affairs correspondent, said the DOJ is arguing that this is an effort toward transparency and that releasing files on the disgraced financier is in the public interest.

The Trump administration’s chaotic handling of the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files continues as the Justice Department asked a federal judge today to make public years-old grand jury testimony made behind closed doors against the convicted sex offender.

Read more details here on the latest development

President Donald Trump is filing a libel lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and reporters who wrote a story about collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, including a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman.

Trump is suing for libel, assault and slander, according to the docket filed in federal court in South Florida. A copy of the lawsuit was not attached to the docket.

CNN has reached out to The Wall Street Journal for comment.

President Donald Trump displays the GENIUS Act after signing it at the White House on Friday.

Some Republicans are demanding more transparency on documents related to Jeffrey Epstein while others in the MAGA base are getting behind President Donald Trump in light of a Wall Street Journal report yesterday detailing a birthday letter sent to the convicted sex offender in 2003 bearing Trump’s name.

Meantime, the president signed a bipartisan crypto bill at the White House today.

Click through the links below to read more:

President Donald Trump signs the GENIUS Act at the White House on Friday.

President Donald Trump spoke at a White House signing ceremony for the bipartisan GENIUS Act today.

Trump said the legislation is “massive validation” of the cryptocurrency industry.

After his remarks, Trump sat at a desk to sign the bill into law, surrounded by members of Congress and administration officials.

What’s in the bill: It is a first-of-its kind legislation that aims to regulate a type of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins. The US House passed the legislation in a 308-122 vote yesterday, after a handful of Republicans initially blocked the bill over a policy dispute.

Trump had urged Republicans to vote for the bill, arguing on social media that the GENIUS Act would make the US the “UNDISPUTED, NUMBER ONE LEADER in Digital Assets.”

GENIUS stands for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins.”

This post has been updated with remarks from the president and to reflect the bill’s signing.

As the Department of Homeland Security scrambles to meet the Trump administration’s quotas for increased arrest and deportation of undocumented immigrations, officials are pleading with former ICE agents to return to service, according to an email obtained by CNN that was sent to numerous former agents.

It comes with a bonus of up to $50,000.

Deemed “Operation Return to Mission,” ICE leadership issued the “urgent call” to former agency employees, indicating “you can serve in your current location and previous job series.”

As CNN reported, while the administration has touted its immigration crackdown publicly, privately officials have come under fire for failing to meet White House arrest quotas, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

Trump border czar Tom Homan speaks to reporters outside the White House on Friday.

Trump border czar Tom Homan said today that no final decision has been made about reopening Alcatraz, when asked about reports that returning the former prison to operation could cost $2 billion.

Homan did say the administration is looking “for any available bed space.”

Pressed again by reporters on whether he’d be comfortable with the $2 billion figure, Homan said, “I’d have to see how many beds come out of that number and what’s the length of stay that facility is going to do — we’ve got short-term bed facilities and long-term bed facilities, so unless I have that information, I can’t even give you a guess.”

He repeatedly stressed the need for more bed space. “We’re looking for any available bed space we can get that meet the detention standards that we’re accustomed to,” Homan said.

“Gov. (Ron) DeSantis came up with some beds pretty quickly,” Homan said, referring to the Florida detention facility the administration has called “Alligator Alcatraz.” The border czar said states have a responsibility to help.

A mugshot of Jeffrey Epstein is seen on a television at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Federal grand juries are investigative bodies that hear testimony from witnesses and issue subpoenas, but it’s unclear if the material gathered during this secretive panel would advance the public’s understanding of the Jeffrey Epstein case — as it’s not a complete record of the investigation, just enough to get an indictment.

The Department of Justice is expected to ask a judge to release additional material, which is typically kept secret — but it’s unclear what they will argue that will convince a judge to release additional material that has been held back to protect victims and accusers.

A Justice Department official confirmed the government is expected to file the request in federal court in Manhattan at some point today.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig explains more:

What’s been made public already: Some transcripts related to the 2006 Florida grand jury investigation into Epstein have already been released. The public also received information throughout the course of the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022 for carrying out a years-long scheme with Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls.

Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi did not address what might become of FBI notes or interviews conducted outside of the grand jury process. Those are often much more voluminous, and — even if they don’t ultimately become relevant to the criminal case — could enhance public understanding of a matter.

President Donald Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency after being examined for swelling in his legs, the White House announced yesterday.

It’s a condition in which valves inside certain veins don’t work the way they should, which can allow blood to pool or collect in the veins. About 150,000 people are diagnosed with it each year, and the risk goes up with age.

Watch the explanation from CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta:

Steve Bannon speaks with at Turning Point's AmericaFest in Phoenix in December.

Steve Bannon said Friday that the Wall Street Journal story about a Jeffrey Epstein birthday letter bearing Donald Trump’s name has united the president’s supporters behind him once again on an issue that, up until last evening, had put him at odds with many members of his base.

Bannon was one of several of Trump’s high-profile supporters who had chastised his administration’s handling of the Epstein case and helped keep the issue alive despite Trump’s repeated attempts to dismiss the backlash.

Bannon also praised Trump’s move asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to unseal pertinent grand jury testimony related to Epstein, calling it a “good start.”

“Good start but stay on offense—it’s when Trump is @ his best –attack, attack, attack,” Bannon wrote when asked whether such a move will be enough to quell the pressure for more of the so-called Epstein files to be released.

Bannon is a longtime critic of Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch, whom Trump has vowed to sue — along with the newspaper — over the story about the birthday letter, which he denies is from him.

Rupert Murdoch arrives for the inauguration of President Donald Trump at the Capitol Rotunda on January 20.

President Donald Trump said he would want Rupert Murdoch to testify after vowing to sue the Wall Street Journal and its owner over the outlet’s story detailing a 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name.

A collection of letters gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday included a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman, according to the WSJ report. The drawing, depicting a woman’s breasts and a “Donald” signature in the place of pubic hair, surrounded several lines of typewritten text, according to the newspaper, which reviewed the letter. It concluded with the line: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump in an interview with the Journal on Tuesday denied that he wrote the letter or drew the picture and threatened to sue the newspaper if it published the story.

“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third-rate newspaper,” Trump posted on Truth Social last night after the story posted.

Here’s what the president’s day looks like so far today:

We’ll update you with any additional events as we get them.

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to reporters at the Capitol on Thursday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson would not commit to bringing a non-binding resolution calling for the release of more Jeffrey Epstein-related materials to the floor, after the resolution was advanced by the House Rules Committee. Instead, he argued that the point of that committee vote was to allow his GOP Rules members to go on the record supporting transparency in the Epstein case, since committee Democrats had forced politically tough votes on the issue throughout the week.

“We will see how all of this develops. We’re in line with the White House, there’s no daylight between us,” he said in the early hours of Friday morning.

Johnson emphasized that House Republicans support President Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein case.

The speaker also touted the House’s final passage of a package codifying some DOGE spending cuts, saying he was “delighted” to move it to the president’s desk.

The House in the early hours of Friday passed the package of $9 billion in spending cuts, which is part of the White House’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency efforts.

It now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.

Effect on public broadcasting and international aid: Roughly $8 billion will be taken from congressionally approved foreign aid programs as part of the White House’s efforts to dismantle the US Agency for International Development. Another $1.1 billion comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR and PBS.

Public television stations will be “forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger said yesterday. Advocates say the entire system of noncommercial media will become weaker without the foundational support from taxpayers, resulting in fewer original shows and less local news coverage.

Government funding: Passage of the bill, however, now raises questions about how and whether Democrats and Republicans will be able to work together to keep the government funded past the September 30 deadline. Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer argued the process has cast doubt on whether Democrats can work in good faith with Republican lawmakers who could agree to a spending deal now and pull future funding later.

CNN’s Brian Stelter contributed reporting.