Global News Podcast - Trump sues newspaper over Epstein story

Episode Date: July 19, 2025

Donald Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal over a report claiming he wrote a "bawdy" note to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Also: a Coldplay concert embrace goes viral, and bats make a woman homeless.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Get ready for a celebration of play like no other at the all new LEGO Summer of Play event at Legoland Discovery Centre Toronto. Now through August 3rd, I'm master model builder Noel inviting you to discover your play mode with awesome build activities, experiences and even some fresh new dance moves. Enjoy the ultimate indoor Lego playground with rides, a 4-day theatre, and millions of Lego bricks at Legoland Discovery Centre. Build the best day ever with your family by getting tickets online now at legolanddiscoverycentre.com. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Paul Moss and in the early hours of Saturday the 19th of July these are our main stories. President Trump is suing the media mogul Rupert Murdoch over an article in the Wall Street Journal about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Renewed clashes have broken out in southern Syria between Bedwin tribesmen and the minority Druze community. Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro has been placed under curfew, allegedly to prevent him fleeing the country. Also in this podcast, a mere adjustment to television schedules or a sign of self-censorship.

What prompted this announcement on one of America's top television shows? The network will be ending the Late Show in May. We hear about the growing political rau from our correspondent in New York. They are arguably two of the most powerful people in the world. Donald Trump in charge of America, Rupert Murdoch owning a stable of newspapers and television stations which make him a titan of traditional media. Both support the political right but they are very much at loggerheads. It centres around a scandal which just won't go away despite Mr Trump's best efforts, allegations about his relationship with the

convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The president is suing Mr Murdoch and his paper, The Wall Street Journal, over a suggestion that he sent Mr Epstein a very raunchy birthday letter back in 2003. The US president denies such a letter exists. Our North America correspondent, Aruna De Mukherjee, told me what's alleged to be in it. Going by what the Wall Street Journal essentially has reported on, there was a typewritten text within the image of a sketch of a naked woman. That's essentially where this entire controversy stems from. Now, the Wall Street Journal reported on some aspects of the letter,

which are body in nature, some might call it crude as well. Donald Trump denying this completely, saying this letter is fake, saying that he doesn't talk like this, neither does he do drawings. You know, you've heard those statements that have come in from Donald Trump since last evening since this article was published. But that was enough for, you know, this kind of to set in motion several developments, cascading developments really. First, we saw Donald Trump saying that he's going to be suing the publication, which he has now done just a short while back. We received confirmation that a lawsuit has now been filed against Wall Street Journal, the parent company, Rupert Murdoch, who you were mentioning just a short while back in your

introduction, as well as those two correspondents who broke the story. There is also another significant development, again, on the legal front, something that he had said he will be asking his Attorney General to do. Attorney General Pam Bondi has now moved court, making that request legally to unseal some of those grand jury testimony relating to Jeffrey Epstein. So this is a case that Donald Trump has been wishing that people should stop talking about it, as he said in numerous media interactions, but clearly exactly the opposite has been happening. Yeah, I mean at a legal level clearly the story is not going away but we know that courts, legal processes like this can go very slowly indeed. I mean it may not come to court

for a long time but what about at a political level? Is this continuing to cause him any trouble or is it really just a matter for the law courts and what can I say, media tittle tattle? I think the story is going to play out on two levels one is the legal level and one is the political level you've seen the murmurs and the indications on the political level already over the past one week and even beyond that you know the kind of pressure that Donald Trump and his administration has been under and not just from his political critics or opponents but also from members of his own party and especially those who are associated with his make America Great campaign, who've been

repeatedly demanding greater transparency when it comes to this issue. You know, their argument is that during the election campaign, Donald Trump had promised that he would be making a lot of these public, but what happened now? And they see the attempt by the Department of Justice or the FBI in those memos saying that, you know, we don't have a client list and sort of, you know, putting at rest any kind of conspiracy theories, they feel that this could be something that indicates a possible cover up, which is why he's facing pressure from those who are also part of his political base.

But legally, you know, it's also going to be a lengthy process because the attorney general has to make a case in court that these grand jury testimonies or transcripts have to be released in public interest. Now, that could be a lengthy process. It is going to be subject to court approval. So this is certainly something that could take a significant amount of time as well, while all the politics plays out simultaneously. Arun Adai Mukherjee. Well, as we heard there, Donald Trump faces mounting pressure from his own supporters,

who are pointing to promises he made during his presidential election campaign to release files relating to Epstein. Leah Zaki is a Republican running for governor of California, and among those feeling aggrieved, my colleague Julian Warica asked him why. I'm really concerned about these files that we've been promised and these lists that we've been talking about for years, all of a sudden they don't exist. And we wanna know who's on that list, who's involved in this, because it's bigger than just,

oh, who's a pedophile? And that's a big deal. We don't wanna have pedophiles running our government, but who's being controlled by somebody else or a foreign entity via blackmail because of this? There's a lot in there. You're convinced a list exists, are you, even though a joint FBI and Department of Justice report only last week said they'd found no evidence of a list?

How long have we been talking about a list? You know, like six years now, And all of a sudden, you know, after we have all these people telling us, oh, you know, we're gonna release this list, there's this list, there's this list, and then all of a sudden, he killed himself, and yeah, the list doesn't exist. Even though they released,

but they gave all those influencers, remember they gave the influencers and all those people like that big binder that was supposedly the list and it was all heavily redacted with no real information in it. What of the way the Trump administration has handled this in recent times? Are you disappointed by your president who is a straight talking man who now appears not to be talking straight? Yes, we were told there was going to be a release of this list and now all of a sudden

it doesn't exist and shut up you're stupid. Don't ask questions. It's truly insulting. I mean I'm surprised that you're quite as critical of your president as you have just been. That shows how angry you are, does it? You have to be critical of your leaders. You can't just have blind allegiance.

I don't care who it is. Does that mean you don't trust him anymore? Well, look, I'm gonna give him praise where praise is due. Like, is he doing a great job right now? When it comes to economic things, I mean, we have to do something different. What we were doing as a country wasn't working, but it definitely is not what I was expecting.

And at the same time, you have to remember that, you know, it's always been this choice of a lesser of two evils. And for the first time, I think we, the people that voted for Donald Trump, were like, oh my god, it's not the lesser of two evils. We got the right guy. And then something like this happens,

and it's like, oh my my god that I just get fooled. And how many people do you think who are deep down supportive of him are now in the same place as you and are having serious doubts about who they elected here? Millions. Millions of MAGA supporters. Absolutely. I mean there's, but I think it's more the younger generation more than anything, and we want to put America first.

And so when we have somebody that's told us that we're gonna release this list, and then they do this whole charade with those binders for those influencers, and then Pam Bondi's like, oh, it's on my desk, and then there's, oh, apparently it's a music communication. We just feel like we're being we're being talked down to like, like stupid children and just like

shut up and do what you're told. And we don't we don't respond positively to that. Leo Zaki speaking to Julian Warica. Nobody ever thought it would be easy for Syria's President Amir al-Sharah when he came to power in January, he inherited a country riven with the divisions of civil war. But still, the latest clashes have been brutal, even by Syrian standards. Fighting between the army, Bedouin tribes and the country's Druze community have reportedly killed as many as 600 people this week alone, as well as displacing 80,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Ravina Shandarsani of the UN's Human Rights Commission said atrocities have been committed by both sides. Credible reports that our office has received indicate widespread violations and abuses, including summary executions and arbitrary killings, kidnappings, destruction of private property and looting of homes in the southern city of Sueda. Among the reported perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim authorities, as well as other armed elements from the area, including the Druze and Bedouin. The fighting's been concentrated in Syria's southern province of Sueda, with the latest

report suggesting that Bedouin forces are approaching the provincial capital, video from a nearby Druze village shows fighters strolling among burning buildings. Syria's neighbor Israel has also been involved saying it wants to protect the Druze who it sees as allies. Indeed it's a sign of this involvement that Israel has now said it will allow the Syrian army to deploy in the south of what is its own country. Our reporter in Damascus is Lina Sinjab. I asked her first about the origins of this latest violence. To start with I think the main problem that the Druze since the fall of Assad some of

the Druze factions and community leaders, religious leaders refuse to have any presence of the Syrian army and security. However, the new government has appointed a governor who is not from Sweda to govern that area. There was a lot of tension and there was also tension because there was no presence of the official army between the militias, the Druze militias and the Bedouins or tribal fighters who are surrounding Sweda. This has been historic. This is not something, this kind of tension is not new. Even before Assad regime used those tribal fighters to, you know, attack the Druze at some point. They came in under the flag of ISIS. Many

people described them as this at the time. But now it seems that the tension that happened because of kidnapping, of a tradesman, exploded into big violence and got the government involved. Now some people say that the government used this as an excuse to force itself and its power and its army within Sweda. But the forces who entered, as we've heard from the UN, committed crimes, committed killing, committed looting and humiliation of the Druze, which led to a big fallout. And it was coincided with the Israelis also attacking both inside Sweda, attacking the government troops, buteda attacking the government troops but also attacking the military headquarter in Damascus which led for the government forces to withdraw completely.

I'm just looking at news wires and there are breaking reports of clashes at the entry to Sueda between tribal fighters, that's how they're being described, and the Druze. What's the latest that you're hearing? Well, everyone I spoke to today were telling me that the tribal fighters are trying to enter Swede from various entry points. They were mainly located at the north and west entrance to Swede. They are in many villages there but already these villages are clear of any people inside because people ran away or have been killed in the fighting. The number of people killed over the past few days were like reached 600. So there

are attempts by the tribes to enter a Sweda. The fighters from the Druze community are trying to push them back but we heard also that the Israelis have allowed the government security forces to enter Sweda again for 48 hours to maintain stability. However, the anger and mistrust from the Druze community towards this government is massive and there's a big gap. Almost everyone I spoke to, they said they don't want to see anyone from the government again in Sweda.

They don't trust them and they feel that this is not a government that is going to protect anyone in Syria. We've mentioned Israel. Can you just briefly explain, Lina, what is Israel's strategic interest in this part of Syria? It's really complicated, the situation, because at the end of the day, the IDF says that they are interfering to protect the Druze. However, no one from the Druze inside Syria has called on the Israelis to help them.

There are some of the Druze who are in the Golan Heights who are putting pressure perhaps for Israel to interfere and defend the Druze community. But many of the people we spoke to inside Syria, they've rejected that and they said that although maybe this intervention helped end the violence, but they don't want this to be by their own names. Lina Sinjab. His home and party headquarters raided by police are now wearing an ankle monitor. Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro has been barred from leaving the country following an order from the Supreme Court.

Mr Bolsonaro is on trial for allegedly plotting a coup to overturn the 2022 election and prevent his successor, President Lula da Silva, from taking office. He's also accused of trying to solicit help from the United States to interfere in the case. Last week, President Trump called for the trial to be halted, threatening Brazil with 50% tariffs if it didn't comply. So was the Supreme Court's decision a way of telling the US those threats won't work? BBC Brazil's Leandro Prejeres told us why the court says it made the decision.

Well, the main reason behind the court decision was that Mr. Bolsonaro has allegedly engaged in an international campaign to persuade the US government to put pressure on Brazil's Supreme Court. The goal would be to put a halt on the trial that Mr Bolsonaro is facing here in Brazil, a case that could potentially send him to jail for more four decades actually. I mentioned the threat by Donald Trump that if Brazil didn't drop the trial he would impose 50% tariffs on Brazil and I just wondered is it a coincidence that happened just a few days ago or is this Brazil I suppose effectively calling Donald Trump's bluff and saying you wanted us to stop as you call it persecuting Mr Bolsonaro we're going to put more limitations on him? Well that's a very interesting question. In Brazil the justice branch is independent from the executive branch but what we can say for

sure is that the Brazilian authorities they have treating the 50% terrorist threat very seriously. For example, the government has been saying that it's trying to establish a negotiation channel with the US government. But on the other hand, Brazil's president, Mr. Lula da Silva, said just yesterday on TV that the country would seek any legal instrument to challenge the tariffs and that Brazil would not accept any sort of foreign interference in its justice system. I've seen some suggestion that Donald Trump's threat has effectively backfired, that what he's done has actually improved the popularity of Lula da Silva.

Yeah, that's exactly what polls have been showing so far. A recent poll that was released just yesterday showed that Mr. Lula da Silva's popularity has increased compared to his situation before the threat of the terrorist on Brazil. And that's one of the reasons why many political analysts have been saying that Brazil's president is saying repeatedly and repeatedly that he would not accept any sort of foreign interference in the country. Leonardo Prishearish. Still to come... I've been staying at my mum's, I've been I mean I've been sleeping in my car because I'm too scared to go in. Most recently there was one in my toilet

holder in the actual house. The British woman forced out of her home by an because I'm too scared to go in. Most recently there was one in my toilet roll holder in the actual house. The British woman forced out of her home by an invasion of flying creatures and why she can't do anything about it. Get ready for a celebration of play like no other at the all-new LEGO Summer of Play event at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Toronto, now through August 3rd.

I'm Master Model Builder Noel inviting you to discover your play mode with awesome build activities, experiences, and even some fresh new dance moves. Enjoy the ultimate indoor LEGO playground with rides, a 4-day theatre, and millions of LEGO bricks at LEGOLAND Discovery Center. Build the best day ever with your family by getting tickets online now at legolanddiscoverycentre.com slash Toronto. People's homes blown up, entire towns and suburbs levelled. The latest pictures from Gaza give an idea of the physical damage the Palestinian

territory has suffered, along with the near 60,000 people killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. The images have been examined by the BBC's Verify team and suggest there's been widespread demolition of civilian buildings by Israel since it withdrew from a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, and that much of the damage has been inflicted in the past few weeks alone as Merlin Thomas reports. 21 months of war has ravaged Gaza. Homes, streets, parks, once bustling with life are now left in ruins. BBC Verify identified footage of infrastructure being demolished in 40 locations since a ceasefire ended in March.

In that time, Israeli forces and contractors have levelled large swathes of the city of Rafa in southern Gaza. At the end of May, Terle Sultan, once one of the city's most vibrant neighbourhoods, had survived more than a year and a half of war. Now, a maternity hospital is one of a handful of buildings left standing. Controlled explosions, excavators and bulldozers have obliterated whole areas. And it's not just the military involved in these demolitions. BBC Verify has also identified dozens of ads posted on Israeli Facebook groups offering demolition

work in Gaza to contractors, promoting excellent conditions and special projects. The Israeli army says it operates in accordance with international law, that Hamas conceals military assets in civilian areas, and that property is destroyed only when deemed a military necessity. But legal experts like Jelena Dill, Professor of Global Security at the University of Oxford, say this may be a war crime. The expectation that Hamas may return to a neighbourhood would not meet the standard of imperative military necessity. It is too speculative. And when entire neighbourhoods

get levelled, this simply raises the suspicion that the standard used here for deciding what is necessary or militarily useful is lower than what the law demands. If and when the long-awaited ceasefire comes, for those who return, only ruins will remain. Merlin Thomas. The American television host Stephen Colbert is known for applying his biting wit to the news. As presenter of The Late Show for the past decade, he's only pushed the boundaries of political satire. But still there was genuine shock at what he had to say during Thursday's program.

Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending The Late Show in May. And yeah, I share your feelings. will be ending The Late Show in May. And... CHEERING Yeah, I share your feelings. After more than three decades on air then, one of America's most famous chat shows, a show for many years presented by David Letterman, has been dropped.

But this isn't merely yet another US entertainment story. CBS, the network which airs The Late show, insisted it was purely a business decision. But as our North America correspondent, Neda Taufik explained to me, plenty of people see something rather more sinister at work involving the CBS parent company Paramount and with implications for how free broadcasters are to say what they want in the era of President Trump. Immediately there was speculation and real concern that actually this decision was tied directly to the government's review of Paramount trying to make a merger with this company called Skydance.

And keep in mind just three days ago, Stephen Colbert had actually criticized a settlement between CBS and the Trump administration, saying that it was essentially a big fat bribe. Now, CBS had originally called the lawsuit completely without merit. They settled for 16 million. But this is something that is just out there. And so it has really led to speculation from many that this is paramount, you know, instead of standing up to the administration, really worrying about its bottom line. Prominent Democrats, for example, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff saying that the president has created a climate of fear, that he is making news organizations afraid, he's making universities afraid, et cetera.

And so he said he wants to know and the public deserves to know if this was done for political reasons. The same thing has been echoed by Senator Elizabeth Warren and many others who are wondering if this is part of a climate of fear. If there is this climate of fear, I mean, are there other examples that people are citing where it seems entertainment or news organizations are doing

things in order to stay in Donald Trump's good books? Well, yeah, look, there is no doubt that the landscape has shifted dramatically. I mean, for example, the Associated Press was banned from some White House events and is suing the administration. You now have funding cuts to the likes of NPR and PBS. So there is very much this change in relationships, the administration, you know, the counter to that, as some people say, there's greater attention to free speech and First Amendment because other outlets and, you know, podcasters and others are having greater access to the White

House than just traditional media companies. You see Donald Trump, for example, celebrating Stephen Colbert's firing, saying that the Fox News late night host is far better and that others like Jimmy Fallon on NBC, for example, should be next to go. Stephen Colbert will be on air for another 10 months before his contract ends. Are we expecting him to keep his mouth shut or carry on saying it how he sees it? I don't think anybody expects Stephen Colbert and the late show on CBS to change its approach at all.

He's always mixed sharp political critique with comedy. That's been his appeal. That's been what's made his brand so special in the last few years. And he has not singled at all that in these next 10 months he will tampen down any criticism or his approach to the administration specifically. Neda Taufik, the British government has placed sanctions on a number of Russian military intelligence units and individual suspected agents. It accuses them of spreading chaos and disorder instigated by the Kremlin, carrying

out operations in Europe and beyond, as security correspondent Frank Gardner reports. The UK, a nation considered public enemy number one in Moscow, has announced new sanctions on three units of Russia's military intelligence, the GRU and 18 of its officers, naming them publicly online. Some of the alleged spies are accused of involvement in the attack on a theatre sheltering civilians in Mariopol in Ukraine at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said the Russian intelligence offices were running a campaign to destabilise Europe, undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens. Frank Gardner. Now to a bizarre story which began as a flapping sound in the cavity walls and roof of a house in Aberdeen on the north east coast of Scotland. It ended with the discovery of a colony

of hundreds of, well, tiny flying mammals. Anne-Marie Murchie is the unfortunate homeowner. They were situated in the centre of our house, so basically we had pest control around thinking we had wasps and then we made the gruesome discovery that we had potential for a thousand bats. She sounds almost amused there, but life with a bat infestation proved surprisingly disruptive. It's an absolute nightmare because I'm scared to go in the house at certain times because they're going between 10.15 and 5am. I've been staying at my mum's, I've been sleeping in my car because I'm too scared to go in

and then most recently there was one in my toilet roll holder in the actual house. They didn't give me a scare one morning, which was horrific. In the UK, bats are a protected species, and Anne-Marie Murchie's been told it's illegal for her to touch them or their roosts, but that they will probably move on in September. My colleague Paddy O'Connell spoke to a bat specialist, Gabrielle Graham. At us first, whether she's sympathetic Ms. Murchie's plight. Yeah, of course I'm sympathetic.

And I think what's really important to remember is that it should really never have come this far. And I think all of us listening have a lot of sympathy for what she's going through. It's important to remember as well that large maternity routes like that won't actually form overnight. And so if you're actually concerned, then there's plenty of time and there's things that you can do to help the bats and you know not get into this similar situation that she's in. Well can I do anything to help the bats to push off? So let's have a little

moment and think about what's happening with the Roost at the moment. So she mentioned on the program that it's a maternity Roost which means that that all the female baths will be getting together and having their pups and that's the babies. And if we were to push the baths out just now, then the babies would actually all die. And I think that we can all agree that that's less than ideal situation to be in. One thing she did mention also is that, you know, this has been happening previously. And so whilst the roosts are protected, there are things that you can do and you can actually work with, in her case, Natress Scott, who's

the government organisation that deals with this, and actually put measures in place to prevent the bats from coming in into the future. Gabrielle Graham, we still don't know quite what the relationship was between the chief executive of a software company and a member of his staff, whether they're illicit lovers or just good friends. But the embrace they shared at a Coldplay concert in the US has now been seen by millions around the world. It was picked up by a so-called kiss cam and projected onto a giant screen. Not perhaps what the two people involved

really wanted, as our correspondent Duncan Kennedy reports. If it was meant to be a discreet night out for a couple in search of privacy, then in the words of one of Coldplay's best known songs, it soon turned to trouble. Picture the scene. Andy Byron, the chief executive of a software development business, and Kristin Cabot, the company's head of human resources, were watching the band at a stadium near Boston. Mr Byron was standing behind Miss Cabot, his arms laced around her, her hands clutching his. How do we know all this? Well, because the stadium's kiss cam caught them and beamed their image to the 66,000 other people at the concert. When the pair spotted themselves on the big screen, their smiles disappeared quicker than

what Coldplay might have called the speed of sound. The singer Chris Martin was watching as the cringing Miss Cabot covered her face and Mr Byron ducked out of sight. Asking whether the couple were having an affair or were just very shy sent the audience into hysterics. The actual answer is we don't know. But the clip of them bolting hasn't stopped the moment going viral. On TikTok alone it's been viewed around six million times. Their mortified faces now centre stage in a thousand memes.

To paraphrase Chris Martin, when the dust settles, all this might need some serious fixing. Duncan Kennedy. And that's all from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag hash global news pod. This edition was mixed by Jack Wilfan and the producers were Alison Davies and Daniel Mann. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Paul Moss. Until next time, goodbye.