President Trump sued the Wall Street Journal on Friday over a story describing a "bawdy" birthday letter bearing his name that the outlet says was given to Jeffrey Epstein, new court filing shows.

The big picture: Trump had threatened to sue a day earlier, saying he personally warned the WSJ and owner Rupert Murdoch "that the supposed letter" was "a FAKE."

• The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
• The Wall Street Journal did not comment.

Zoom in: In the 18-page filing, Trump's legal team slammed the WSJ report as "false, defamatory, unsubstantiated, and disparaging" and is seeking at least $20 billion for damage.

• "Defendants concocted this story to malign President Trump's character and integrity and deceptively portray him in a false light," the filing said.

Catch up quick: In his Thursday night Truth Social post, Trump wrote "Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so."

• The letter, which the WSJ reports that it reviewed, was in an album that Ghislaine Maxwell put together in 2003 for Epstein's birthday, according to the outlet.
• The WSJ reported that Department of Justice officials reviewed pages from the album years ago, but that it wasn't clear if the DOJ under Trump looked at the documents for its report that concluded there's no evidence to suggest Epstein was killed or kept a "client list."
• Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida after being found guilty of sex trafficking and other charges in 2021.

Zoom out: It's the first lawsuit the president has filed against a media company while in office.

• The number of media and defamation lawsuits involving Trump or his businesses as either the plaintiff or defendant quadrupled since 2015, when he began his political career, compared to the prior three decades, according to an Axios analysis of public databases.
• Currently, the White House is still in a legal battle with the AP over barring its reporters from public spaces.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details from the court filing.

The MAGA movement finally began to unite on the issue of Jeffrey Epstein Friday, rallying around President Trump — and against "the fake news media" — after the release of a blockbuster Wall Street Journal investigation.

Why it matters: A pair of explosive developments gave MAGA influencers the cover they needed to suspend nearly two weeks of unprecedented infighting over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

• First, the Journal's report that Trump sent Epstein a lewd and bizarre birthday card in 2003 drew threats of a lawsuit from the president and a furious defense from his supporters.
• Second, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of all relevant grand jury testimony in the Epstein prosecution — the first substantive gesture toward transparency after shutting down the case entirely.

Reality check: The temporary kumbaya likely won't erase the movement's deeper suspicions.

• It's unclear whether a judge will even authorize the release of the sensitive grand jury material — or whether those documents will reveal anything new.
• MAGA still wants comprehensive receipts about Epstein's powerful clients, the scope of his sex trafficking operation and the nature of his death in prison in 2019.

Driving the news: You could almost hear MAGA's sigh of relief Friday, after weeks of being torn between the movement's long-held theories about Epstein and Trump's apparent disinterest in addressing them.

• The shocking details of the alleged letter reported by the Journal — a vulgar doodle, a mysterious type-written note and no hard evidence of its authenticity — gave MAGA influencers reason enough to dismiss it as fake.
• Trump's personal outrage and directive to Bondi satiated some MAGA calls for transparency while offering the movement a common enemy: the mainstream media.

"We're seeing a unifying moment. The band is back together," MAGA podcaster Jack Posobiec told Axios.

• "He gets attacked just relentlessly by the Wall Street Journal in such an uncalled for way, and we have his back 100% against this smearing and this slandering," Charlie Kirk added on his show.
• "Nothing unites MAGA quite like fake news."

Yes, but: What comes next is uncertain. Another episode in the vein of Bondi's previous blunders — including the distribution of "Epstein Files" binders that contained little new information — could be deeply damaging.

• "The disclosure they're offering should have been done months ago. I'm not really sure this fixes anything, just shows that they had the info the whole time and didn't prioritize its release," one MAGAworld operative told Axios.

The bottom line: The MAGA civil war over Epstein is on pause. Given the movement's extraordinary penchant for deference toward Trump, it might stay that way.

• But this is also a base that values receipts and doesn't take kindly to being gaslit. A lack of disclosures could reignite the fighting.
• "This is what MAGA has been waiting for — Trump against the system," Steve Bannon texted Axios, namechecking Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch.
• He then added: "No holds barred. Finish what we started."

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is moving forward with plans to force a vote on requiring the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, despite attempts by President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to dampen his efforts.

Why it matters: The push by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has proven popular in Congress, with most Democrats and some on the GOP's right flank supporting it.

• Democrats spent the week repeatedly trying to force a vote on Khanna's measure to force the Justice Department to place the Epstein files on a publicly accessible website within 30 days.
• Nearly a dozen House Republicans were co-sponsoring a similar bill introduced by Massie and sponsored by Khanna as of early Friday morning.

Driving the news: After numerous unsuccessful efforts to swat away the Epstein issue, President Trump announced Thursday that he had directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release grand jury transcripts in the Epstein case.

• Johnson, meanwhile, had the House Rules Committee prepare a nonbinding resolution that calls on the Justice Department to release all information pertaining to Epstein — a way to address the issue while minimizing backlash from Trump.
• But the House speaker hasn't committed to holding a vote on that measure, telling reporters: "We'll determine what happens with all that. There's a lot developing."

What they're saying: Massie told Axios those concessions aren't sufficient and that he still plans to move forward with his discharge petition, which forces a House vote on his binding bill if it is signed by 218 members.

• As with his 2015 push to depose then-House Speaker John Boehner, Massie said he intentionally timed it so that the vote could be forced shortly after the lengthy August recess.
• Massie said of his colleagues: "You're going to fundraisers, you're going to town halls, you're going to the grocery store, you're going to the beach — you're going to hear from people."
• "When they come back, I think there will be a big appetite for signing the discharge petition, which is why I have encouraged people to co-sponsor it before they go on recess," he added. "Otherwise, they're going to get the question, 'Why haven't you supported this already?'"

Between the lines: With most if not all Democrats and at least 10 Republicans expected to sign, the discharge petition will likely obtain the necessary signatures to force a vote.

• The real question is whether Johnson will once again employ the procedural maneuver he used in April to kill a discharge petition allowing House members who are new parents to vote by proxy for several months.
• In that case, Republicans eventually folded and reached a compromise with Johnson. Massie said he is not worried, however, because "that affected 435 people ... and the Epstein sex trafficking ring is a lot bigger than that."
• Similarly, Khanna told Axios: "Being allowed to vote in the House is important. But the release of the Epstein files, to the MAGA base, matters 100 times more to them. So I think it's a totally different situation."

Yes, but: Some Republicans who signed onto the discharge petition demurred on the question of whether they would agree to a compromise.

• "I'll just have to strategize with Thomas and Marjorie [Taylor Greene]," said Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.).
• Said Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.): "I haven't thought that far through the strategy piece yet. I just wanted to get on that resolution because I do believe transparency is important."

Other right-wing hardliners are using GOP leadership's nonbinding resolution as cover not to sign, arguing that Trump won't sign a bill with the actual force of law like the Massie-Khanna measure.

• Said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas): "If you're the president of the United States, and you're trying to, I don't know, enforce separation of powers, then you go, 'Well, I'm not going to sign this.' So you wouldn't expect the president to sign that."

What's next: GOP leadership is considering cancelling votes next week, in part to delay Massie's efforts.

• Johnson told reporters on Friday that Republicans remain unified on the issue, despite Democratic efforts to sow division within the party.
• "We will see how all this develops. We're in line with the White House, there's no daylight between us. We want transparency, and I think that will be delivered for the people," he said.

A top Secret Service official was the target of a "swatting" incident at his home on the Fourth of July, according to an agency official.

Why it matters: While the incident didn't lead to any harm, it's another example of just how difficult it's become for law enforcement to rein in the wave of hoax calls.

Zoom in: Someone called 9-1-1 on July 4 to falsely report that the senior-level official's daughter was running around the house with a weapon, Michael Centrella, assistant director of the Secret Service's office of field operations, told a small gathering of tech executives Thursday at the Deepfake Resilience Symposium in San Francisco.

• The voice on the phone appeared to be trying to mimic the agent's, but law enforcement is still investigating whether the caller used a precise deepfake of the agent's voice or just a synthesizer to sound like a man around his age, Centrella added.
• However, the bad actor's plan was foiled by a simple fact: The agent doesn't have a daughter, and his local law enforcement knew that.
• The Secret Service asked Axios to keep the name of the official who was targeted anonymous to protect them and their family from copycat attacks.

What they're saying: "We were able to protect [the senior official] and not have a major incident," Centrella said. "But you've seen these cases now across the country, they are very impactful."

The big picture: "Swatting" — where a bad actor calls call 9-1-1 and reports a fake incident, resulting in armed police officers responding to a home address — has been on the rise in D.C. in recent years.

• Prominent targets have included several of President Trump's cabinet nominees, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, various judges and government agency officials. The Secret Service target does not share the same level of protection as other public officials who have been victims.
• AI tools have made voice cloning easier, and bad actors can easily spoof phone numbers to make themselves harder to detect.

Threat level: Beyond the possibility of a frightening interaction with police, the calls are also troubling because they indicate the caller knows their target's personal address.

• In this case, the targeted agent is a very private person, and it's difficult to find details about his personal life online.

What to watch: Local law enforcement is continuing to investigate the incident, including whether the official's voice was duped.

The director of Israel's Mossad spy agency visited Washington this week seeking U.S. help in convincing countries to take hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, two sources with knowledge of issue tell Axios.

• The spy chief, David Barnea, told White House envoy Steve Witkoff that Israel has been speaking in particular with Ethiopia, Indonesia and Libya.

Why it matters: The Israeli government's goal of removing much of Gaza's population is hugely controversial. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government claims such a "relocation" would be "voluntary," U.S. and Israeli legal experts have labeled it a war crime.

Behind the scenes: In their meeting earlier this week, Barnea told Witkoff that Ethiopia, Indonesia and Libya had expressed openness to receiving large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza, the two source say.

• Barnea suggested that the U.S. offer incentives to those countries and help Israel convince them.
• Witkoff was non-committal, and it's not clear if the U.S. will actively weigh in on this issue, one source said.
• The White House, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, and the foreign ministries of Ethiopia, Indonesia and Libya did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.

Flashback: In February, President Trump proposed the removal of all two million Palestinians from Gaza to rebuild the enclave.

But the White House cooled on the idea after getting significant pushback from Arab countries, U.S. officials say, and it hasn't gone anywhere.

• Israeli officials say the Trump administration told them that if Netanyahu wants to pursue this idea, Israel needs to find countries that are willing to take Palestinians from Gaza.
• Netanyahu tasked Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency with finding countries that would agree to receive large numbers of Palestinians displaced from the Gaza Strip.

The big picture: Nearly every Palestinian in Gaza has been displaced during the war, often multiple times. Most buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.

• Israel has been developing a plan for moving all two million residents of the enclave to a small "humanitarian zone" near the border with Egypt.
• That plan has sparked concerns in Egypt and many Western countries that Israel is preparing for the mass displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza, something Netanyahu's ultranationalist coalition partners and many inside his own party have been pushing for years.
• A senior Israeli official claimed that, as part of the understandings with the three countries, the transfer of Palestinians would be "voluntary and not forced," and that Israel would commit to allowing any Palestinian who leaves to return to Gaza at any time.
• However, the idea that such mass departures could be considered "voluntary" under the circumstances has been disputed.

What they are saying: When Netanyahu visited the White House last week, Trump was asked about this issue and deferred to the Israeli Prime Minister.

• Netanyahu said Israel is working with the U.S. "very closely" to find countries that will agree to take Palestinians from Gaza and stressed that "we are getting close to finding several countries."
• "I think President Trump had a brilliant vision. It's called free choice. You know, if people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn't be a prison," Netanyahu said.
• After the dinner a senior Israeli official told reporters that Trump has shown interest in continuing to push the "relocation" of Palestinians from Gaza. The White House didn't comment at the time.

GOP Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt is running a new ad more than 200 miles away from his Houston-area district.

Why it matters: Hunt sees an opening in the Texas Senate race. Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is faltering in Republican primary polling, and mega-MAGA challenger Ken Paxton is under the microscope for his divorce.

• The new Hunt ad is a clear effort to introduce himself to voters outside the area he represents.
• The ad presents Hunt as a family man, showing himself with his wife and three young children.
• "Family, faith, freedom. These are the values that define Texas, and they're the values that define Wesley Hunt," the ad says.

Zoom in: The commercial aims to paint an implicit contrast with Paxton, whose wife last week filed for divorce.

• Angela Paxton, a Texas state senator, said she was divorcing her husband on "biblical grounds" and alleged that he had committed adultery and that they had been living separately for more than a year.
• Ken Paxton responded by saying: "I could not be any more proud or grateful for the incredible family that God has blessed us with, and I remain committed to supporting our amazing children and grandchildren."

Hunt — who has yet to formally announce a Senate bid — is spending in the "six figures" to air the commercial in the Houston and Dallas media markets, according to a source familiar with the buy.

• Hunt has been running a separate ad in the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Waco, and Amarillo areas highlighting his military background.

State of play: Polls have shown Cornyn trailing Paxton by a significant margin.

• But senior Republicans worry that Paxton, who had previously been impeached (and acquitted) by the Texas legislature on bribery and corruption charges, is damaged goods and would face a competitive general election against a Democrat.
• Other Republicans, including Hunt and GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson — who served as White House physician during Trump's first term — are weighing possible bids.
• Cornyn, who was first elected in 2002, has maintained the support of party leadership.

Trump has remained neutral in the contest, and White House officials told Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) during a meeting last week that the president would wait to see if Cornyn could close the polling gap.

President Trump seeks to use both monetary policy and trade policy to help the U.S. government reduce the burden of its debt. It's a major departure from what has long been considered best practice for economic policy.

Why it matters: The president's arguments for interest rate cuts suggest he seeks "fiscal capture," where monetary policy is set not based on economic conditions, but on what will be most helpful for the government as it seeks to manage its interest costs.

• That can lead to "fiscal dominance," where debt service needs become the core focus of a central bank, rather than economic stabilization. This tends to cause higher inflation and higher long-term interest rates.
• Similarly, the desire to use tariff revenue as a major ongoing funding source for the U.S. government is at odds with other goals of trade policy, like re-shoring manufacturing and negotiating concessions with trade partners.

The big picture: Traditionally, the job of monetary policy is economic stabilization — trying to keep inflation and the labor market on an even keel. Whether the interest rate policies meant to achieve that make things harder or easier for fiscal policymakers is not supposed to be the Fed's concern.

• Trump doesn't see it that way. The U.S. deserves rates "to be at 1%, saving One Trillion Dollars a year on Interest Costs," he posted Friday morning on Truth Social.
• The Fed has net losses in the last couple of years, which Trump's budget director, Russ Vought, has cited as evidence of mismanagement.
• Fed leadership has viewed the central bank's profits (which are passed on to the Treasury) or losses not as a goal, but as a downstream effect of the policies it sets in service of its economic goals.

Of note: In moments of emergency, it can make sense for the Fed to make funding the government on favorable terms its primary goal.

• The Treasury and Fed worked in lockstep during World War II to fund the war effort, for example, and arguably something similar occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• But in normal times, it's a recipe for muddled policy, or worse.
• "The Fed controls interest rates to manage the business cycle," wrote Mike Konczal with the Economic Security Project. "[A]dding a second objective, managing the debt load, requires a second independent tool, or else the Fed will fail at both."

State of play: Similarly, the traditional aims of trade policy tend to include geopolitical strategy, defending domestic industries and gaining access to foreign markets.

• Whatever revenue that tariffs happen to raise has been viewed as a fortunate side effect, not the reason for acting.
• Now, White House economists project that tariffs will raise about $2.8 trillion over the next decade, a key factor in their deficit projections that are far sunnier than those of outside forecasters.

What they're saying: "This 'fiscal capture' of tariff policy shouldn't seem peculiar," wrote Macquarie strategists Thierry Wizman and Gareth Berry in a note this week.

• "After all, there are a myriad of reports that Trump's desire to replace the Fed's Chair also comes from a need to 'fiscally capture' monetary policy, thus reducing the federal government's interest burden should debt levels rise," they added.
• This creates a risk of higher long-term interest rates. "As markets uncover the 'fiscal capture' narrative," they wrote, "the US yield curve may steepen further, with the 30-year yield rising relative to short-term yields."

The bottom line: High tariffs could stick around longer and long-term interest rates might spike higher if fiscal dominance prevails.

Congress on Friday voted to cut nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, marking a devastating blow for PBS and NPR.

Why it matters: The cuts will have a significant impact on local station groups that rely on federal funding to survive. Many are expected to shutter without it.

• While NPR and PBS nationally are mostly funded by nongovernment sources, such as corporate sponsorships or viewer/listener donations, local member stations are heavily reliant on CPB funding.
• Those stations are often the only sources of local news programming in rural communities amid a steady decline of local newspapers.

Yes, but: While the cuts target NPR and PBS, the national organizations won't feel much of the impact.

• Only around 1% and 15% of NPR's and PBS' national revenue comes through CPB, respectively.
• The majority of federal funding is allocated to local member stations, which use it for day-to-day operations.
• Some of those stations do pay small dues to the national PBS and NPR entities to access nationally syndicated shows, newsgathering and resources, but many rural stations that will be hit hardest by the funding cuts don't currently pay those dues.

State of play: The cuts were included in a sweeping rescissions package meant to claw back more than $9 billion in federal spending.

• The package included nearly $1.1 billion in funding for for CPB through 2026 and 2027.
• The House voted in favor of the broader rescission package Friday after the Senate voted 51-48 in favor of the package early Thursday morning. The bill passed the upper chamber with only Republican support. It now heads to President Trump to sign into law.
• Senate Republicans who voted against the package included Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), whose states rely heavily on public media in rural areas.

Between the lines: Every member station of NPR or PBS is expected to feel the impact of the cuts.

• NPR has 386 public radio grantees that operate around 1,300 stations across the country. Around 40% of them are classified as rural stations.
• PBS has nearly 350 member television stations.

Of note: For some vulnerable NPR affiliate stations, CPB funding can make up to 50% of their total budget.

• Without CPB funding, PBS estimates that roughly 15% of its stations will be unable to operate.

What they're saying: "This vote is an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will," said Katherine Maher, President & CEO of NPR

Zoom out: While Republicans have made some efforts to defund public media in the past, support for NPR and PBS have historically been considered non-partisan.

• In 2012, then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney said during a debate that he was "going to stop the subsidy to PBS," if elected.
• Ahead of Trump's second term, Project 2025 wrote in a detailed memo foreshadowing the president's agenda ways the administration could pull funding for public broadcasters. The Trump administration started taking actions to scrutinize public broadcasters shortly thereafter.

The big picture: The cuts are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to strip funding from public broadcasters.

• Earlier this year, President Trump issued an executive order to essentially gut international broadcasters that rely on congressionally appropriated funds, such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently shook up his communications team, and now the outspoken Democrat is turning many of Donald Trump's brash political tactics against the president himself.

• Newsom and his team have used online trolling, meme wars, mocking TikTok videos, insults such as "cuck," and even a lawsuit against a media company — in this case, one accusing Fox News of misleading reporting — to create an edgy resistance.

Why it matters: In the lead-up to a potential 2028 presidential campaign, Newsom is essentially acknowledging that many of Trump's tactics are effective — and he's betting they can help Democrats reach more voters in the attention economy.

• Newsom remains coy about a White House run, but he's increasingly acting and sounding like a candidate.
• He's also sat for lengthy podcast interviews with conservative figures, and last week made a trip to the early primary state of South Carolina.

Driving the news: In the aftermath of Trump's attacks on Newsom's handling of the fires in Los Angeles this year, the governor retooled his rapid-response operation in ways that resemble that of Trump.

• Over the weekend, Newsom's office called Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller a "fascist cuck" — a term Trump's team often uses to attack its opponents — after Miller criticized a judge's ruling and called the judge a "communist."
• "Sorry the Constitution hurt your feelings, Stephen," Newsom's office wrote on social media. "Cry harder."

In response to Trump dodging questions this week about releasing more information on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Newsom's team posted a TikTok that included an old photo of Trump and Epstein with Nickelback's "Photograph" playing.

• Newsom aides also have taken to posting various "Star Wars" and "Simpsons" memes to mock Trump.
• Following another Trump move, Newsom sat for a four-hour interview with Navy Seal-turned-podcaster Shawn Ryan. Trump had been on Ryan's show during last year's campaign.

What they're saying: "In today's fractured media environment, it's never been more important to communicate immediately and effectively. Governor Newsom gets that," Newsom spokesperson Lindsey Cobia told Axios.

• "While the Trump administration uses these tactics to demean and belittle the powerless, Gavin Newsom is using them to stand up to the powerful and call out the authoritarian methods of the current White House occupant."

By the numbers: At a time when Democrats are wrestling with low poll numbers and are searching for ways to counter Trump, Newsom's approach has earned him millions of new followers across social media platforms.

• On TikTok he now has 1.8 million followers, up from just over 500,000 in March, according to the Internet Archive.
• That's far more than potential 2028 Democratic rivals such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (286,700 followers), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (382,600), and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (1.4 million), but behind others such as former Vice President Kamala Harris (9.1 million) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (4.1 million).

Reality check: Followers don't equal votes.

• They can, however, be a sign of enthusiasm.

Between the lines: Newsom also has been trying to shed what his team feels is the unfair caricature of a San Francisco liberal — which is what Trump's campaign attacked Kamala Harris as in 2024.

• In his conversation with Ryan, Newsom discussed how he has a "business mindset" and talked about his frustration with San Francisco regulations when he was a young entrepreneur.
• Newsom also said the Biden administration "failed" in its border policies that Trump exploited in the last election.
• He said he's not for decriminalizing border crossings, a concept several Democratic presidential candidates embraced in the 2020 primary.

Newsom launched his own podcast this year and has had calm interviews with prominent conservatives such as Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

• Some progressives criticized Newsom for telling Kirk that trans women playing in women's sports was "deeply unfair." Newsom also said he doesn't allow his staff to use potentially alienating terms such as "Latinx," though he previously had used the word.

Newsom has had some trouble booking conservatives on his show — a few have declined because they believed that participating could help him politically.

• On her popular conservative show, Megyn Kelly told Tucker Carlson in April: "I've said I'm against conservatives going on his podcast because I think it's helping him train for 2028, and I don't think we should help him."
• Carlson agreed and said he'd declined an invitation from Newsom because he thought that "the point of this is not to have a real conversation or to answer questions. The point of this is to rehabilitate" Newsom.

President's Trump's audacious plan to convert Alcatraz back to a maximum- security prison could come with a hefty price tag: $2 billion, administration sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Trump's plan has been derided by Democrats, but the president is so intent on building a new prison on Alcatraz Island that administration officials have figured preliminary estimates of the costs and made repeated visits to site, the sources say.

• Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday toured the island in San Francisco Bay.
• Bondi's department oversees the Bureau of Prisons, which would run the facility. Burgum's agency owns the land and manages the site — which has been a tourist attraction since 1973 — through the National Park Service.

Zoom in: Two administration officials say Trump hasn't made a final decision on what he wants to do with the island, and it's unclear what the precise costs would be. As described to Axios, there are three general options on the table:

1. A "supermax" prison complex that would cost more than $2 billion. It would require razing all of the island's decrepit structures and building from scratch.
2. A scaled-back prison that would cost $1 billion and not occupy the entire island.
3. Putting the project out to bid for private prison contractors to build and operate. This option is the least likely of the three, the sources said.

"We're still in the early stages," an administration official said. "We need a lot more study, a lot more specificity, before the president decides. But $2 billion might just be too much money for him."

• Another reason the most-expensive option might not be the choice: It would take too long to build, and Trump wants to do as much as possible while he's in office.

Zoom out: Alcatraz closed as a prison in 1963, after less than 29 years in operation. It famously housed some of the federal prison system's most notorious criminals, including Chicago gangster Al Capone.

• The U.S. government closed the prison after deeming it too expensive to operate. The structures deteriorated quickly in the bay's saltwater environment, and food and water had to be brought to the prison, while waste had to be shipped out.
• Some in the administration also have noted that there's a healthy population of whales in the bay and there are worries that the boat traffic required for large-scale construction project on Alcatraz would interfere with them.
• Another argument against the project: The U.S. prison population — already one of the world's largest relative to the population — has been declining for years and is projected to decrease even more.

The big picture: Trump's interest in Alcatraz is motivated more by symbolism than necessity, according to those who know his thinking. Alcatraz, featured in many movies, has a space in the cultural consciousness as a tough place, and the president likes that.

• "When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm," Trump wrote May 4 on Truth Social. "That's the way it's supposed to be.
• "He likes it because it's tough," one adviser said.
• In that respect, an Alcatraz prison jives with the administration's messaging on immigration, which seeks to communicate such cruelty that migrants self-deport.
• Immigration enforcement is one of the few clear growth opportunities for the incarceration-industrial complex. Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" increased funding for immigration enforcement and could be a source of funding for a new Alcatraz if Trump moves forward with the idea.

What they're saying: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat whose district includes Alcatraz, said in a statement that "the planned announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump administration's stupidest initiative yet."

• "It should concern us all that clearly the only intellectual resources the administration has drawn upon for this foolish notion are decades-old, fictional Hollywood movies," she said.

When Trump first announced his idea for Alcatraz, Pelosi said it was "not serious."

• But the visits by Bondi and Burgum underscored the president's interest.
• "People thought it was a joke, an offhanded remark," another official said. "But the president is serious. And if he's serious, we're gonna do it."

Late-night comedy shows face a slew of challenges as streaming and hyper-partisan politics puts more pressure on traditional networks and comedy, respectively.

Why it matters: Late-night shows used to be the crown jewel of big broadcast. Now, they present more risks.

Zoom in: CBS on Thursday said it was canceling "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" after the next season in May 2026.

• The network said it was "purely a financial decision," related to challenges in the late-night time slot, and was "not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."

Reality check: The late-night comedy show format, split between an opening monologue, short interviews and comedic bits, is hard to preserve for an on-demand audience in streaming, as most clips air nearly instantaneously on social media.

• Late-night shows, like the rest of linear television, are struggling from declining ad revenues amid consistent if not higher production costs associated with live daily telecasts.

Between the lines: In a hyper-partisan world, comedy targeting politics risks alienating sizable audiences or drawing ire from people in power.

• President Trump has in the past taken aim at late-night comedians, calling ABC's Jimmy Kimmel "one of the dumbest human beings ever" and NBC's Jimmy Fallon "not very funny."
• He's called "Late Night" host Seth Meyers "dumb and untalented" while demanding that NBC parent Comcast "pay a BIG price" for what he says are "political hits" against him and the Republican Party.
• Those jabs come as broadcasters face unprecedented regulatory pressure from the Trump administration's FCC. Comcast/NBC, Paramount/CBS and Disney/ABC have all announced changes to their DEI policies as the the FCC investigates their diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

Of note: Stephen Colbert was a vocal critic of the president and his policies. CBS' parent Paramount this month settled a lawsuit with Trump that legal experts believe it otherwise could've won in court

Zoom out: The past few years has seen a slew of late-night shakeups as networks grapple with declining viewership and ad revenue.

• Trevor Noah announced an unexpected departure after a seven-year run at "The Daily Show" in 2022.
• Samantha Bee's "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" on TBS was cancelled a few months earlier.
• James Corden, formerly host of CBS' "The Late Late Show," also abruptly exited in 2022. His show was reportedly losing around $20 million annually.

Yes, but: One surprising late-night success has been on cable news.

• Fox News Channel's "Gutfeld!," starring conservative comedian Greg Gutfeld at 10pm ET, has been a ratings bonanza for Fox News, often drawing higher ratings than its late-night broadcast counterparts.

What to watch: NBC executives years ago reportedly discussed moving the time slot for "Late Night with Seth Meyers" or taking other cost-cutting measures.

• Meyers' contract has been renewed through 2028.

House Democrats passed up what appeared to be a golden opportunity to block a bill codifying $9 billion in DOGE cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid. In leadership's telling, victory was never a real possibility.

Why it matters: That analysis may not be enough to ward off fierce backlash from the Democrats' grassroots base, which has been demanding lawmakers use every tool at their disposal to fight the Trump administration.

• While $9 billion is a comparatively paltry sum in a federal budget measured in trillions, targets like NPR and PBS hold great symbolic value for many of Democrats' core voters.
• Even among House Democrats, there wasn't total unanimity about either the legal or political reasoning leadership gave for not doing more to fight the bill.

What happened: There was considerable speculation that Democrats would employ a raft of delay tactics to force Republicans to vote on the rescissions package after a Friday deadline set by the Impoundment Control Act.

• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spoke for just 15 minutes ahead of the vote on the rescissions bill — nowhere near the nearly nine-hour speech he gave to delay the "big, beautiful bill" earlier this month.
• Democrats also opted not to bog down the House Rules Committee with amendments, instead introducing a handful of measures aimed at forcing the release of the Justice Department's files on Jeffrey Epstein.
• Ultimately, Republicans passed the bill just after midnight on Friday, nearly 24 hours before the deadline. Democrats unanimously opposed it, as did Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), but that wasn't enough to stop it.

What we're hearing: House Democratic leadership communicated to its members Thursday night that pushing the vote past the deadline would not have the kind of kill-shot effect some believed, according to a half dozen House Democrats.

• Members were told that leadership consulted lawyers who said the deadline only applied to the Senate, allowing the upper chamber to pass the bill with a 51-vote threshold within a certain timeframe.
• Even if that weren't the case, lawmakers were told, the rescissions would only be invalid for the period between the deadline and when the bill passed the House — which would likely just be hours.
• That was in addition to speculation proffered earlier in the day that the Trump administration would simply ignore the deadline if it proved to be a meaningful legal impediment.

What we're hearing: Not everyone was satisfied. In conversations both inside and outside a Thursday night Democratic caucus meeting, Rep. Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) pushed back on that analysis, according to multiple lawmakers familiar with his comments.

• A lawyer who previously served as counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, Riley argued that Democrats should delay the bill anyway to create standing for a lawsuit against the rescissions, the lawmakers told Axios.
• Asked for comment, the New York Democrat told Axios: "I haven't had a chance to talk to the leader about it. I don't know whose staff I was talking to, but I talked to some folks."
• Some lawmakers argued there was a political case for delay as well, with Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), a progressive member of Democratic leadership, telling Axios: "I think every little thing is part of a bigger picture. It's a puzzle being built — you've got to stop every piece."

Yes, but: Most House Democrats who spoke to Axios deferred to leadership's analysis, with even some senior House progressives saying they believed the political case for delaying the bill was as flimsy as the legal argument.

• Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the former Progressive Caucus chair, told Axios: "We have a very clean message right now coming out of this about what this means for appropriations, congressional power, plus the damage that it's doing to USAID and public broadcasting."
• "I just think it gets all messy if you try to make it a procedural argument," she said.
• Said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.): "If there's a viable way to do that, I'm sure that there's a great appetite for it. But if there's not, we need to fight the battles we can win."

CBS is canceling "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" after the next season, the network announced Thursday.

The big picture: The iconic late-night show that comedian Stephen Colbert has hosted for a decade and that has been around for 32 years will end in May 2026 in what was "purely a financial decision," the network said.

• CBS said in a statement the decision came "against a challenging backdrop in late night" and it's "not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."

What he's saying: Colbert said at the show's taping Thursday that he found out about the program's cancellation a day earlier.

• In response to the studio audience booing at his announcement, Colbert said, "Yeah, I share your feelings."

Zoom in: The network expressed its admiration and respect for Colbert and his team, saying that it made the "agonizing decision even more difficult."

• The show has been No. 1 in the late-night slot for nine straight seasons, CBS said, adding that "the broadcast is a staple of the nation's zeitgeist."

Go deeper: Why late-night TV is rapidly declining

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

The House voted early Friday to approve President Trump's requested clawback of $9 billion in federal funding for PBS, NPR and foreign aid programs.

Why it matters: Democrats fear the victory for the White House — following on DOGE's massive cuts — opens the door for more rescissions packages negating bipartisan spending deals.

• The measure passed 216-213 with only Republican support shortly ahead of a Friday night deadline.
• GOP Reps. Mike Turner (Ohio) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) voted with Democrats against the bill.

The big picture: The GOP's rescissions package takes back money that has already been appropriated by Congress and signed into law by the president.

• The Senate stripped parts of the version the House passed in June, including cuts to PEPFAR — a global health program to prevent HIV and AIDS.
• The measure passed 51-48 early Thursday in that chamber — also with only Republican support.
• Two Republicans — Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — voted with Democrats against the bill.

Zoom in: The rescission package stalled in the House on Thursday due to a partisan fight over disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

• Multiple factions of the GOP conference raised concerns about Democratic maneuvers in the Rules Committee aimed at pushing Republicans into tough votes related to Epstein.
• House Republicans spent the day negotiating with leadership about the path forward, which ultimately resulted in a GOP-led amendment that calls for the release of information related to Epstein.
• The non-binding resolution, which does not have the force of law, is expected to be voted on by the House at a later date.

Between the lines: Democrats on Capitol Hill have been exerting increasing pressure on Republicans to break with Trump over his handling of the Epstein files.

• It's a move designed to deepen divisions among Republicans.

The bottom line: Democrats worry Trump will ask Congress to approve even larger rescission packages in the future, potentially undermining bipartisan deals to avoid a government shutdown.

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has warned Republicans against more attempts to rescind federal funding, signaling that could threaten Democrats' support for government funding bills ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline.
• Unlike the rescissions bills, which have a simple majority threshold for passage, any measure to fund the government before the end of September will require Democratic support to get to 60 votes in the Senate.

President Trump threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal over a Thursday story describing a "bawdy" happy-birthday letter bearing Trump's name that the outlet says was given to Jeffrey Epstein.

The latest: Trump said in a Thursday night Truth Social post that he personally warned the WSJ and owner Rupert Murdoch "that the supposed letter" was "a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued. Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so."

• Trump said both he and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker that the letter at the center of the article was fake, but she "didn't want to hear that" and "instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway."
• Leavitt said on X the "WSJ refused to show us the letter and conceded they don't even have it in their possession when we asked them to verify the alleged document they're basing their ENTIRE fake story on."

Driving the news: The letter, which the WSJ reports that it reviewed, was in a leather-bound album that Ghislaine Maxwell put together in 2003 for Epstein's birthday, according to the story.

• The WSJ reported that Department of Justice officials reviewed pages from the album years ago, but that it wasn't clear if the Trump DOJ looked at the documents for its report that concluded there's no evidence to suggest Epstein was killed or kept a "client list."
• Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida after being found guilty of sex trafficking and other charges in 2021.

Zoom in: The letter bearing Trump's name allegedly features a "bawdy" drawing of a naked woman, but the president told the Wall Street Journal he had nothing to do with the gift.

• "This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story," he told the outlet.
• The WSJ didn't immediately post an image of the letter or drawing.
• Representatives for the WSJ declined to comment further on the report.

Meanwhile, the president announced on Thursday night that he has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all relevant grand jury testimony in the Epstein case, subject to court approval.

Zoom out: Trump has faced pressure from MAGA circles since the conclusion of his administration's review of the Epstein case.

What they're saying: Many top MAGA influencers, even ones critical of Trump's handling of the Epstein matter, bashed the Journal story.

• Charlie Kirk posted: "This is not how Trump talks at all. I don't believe it."
• Megyn Kelly tweeted: "This is the dumbest attempted hit piece I've ever read."
• Jack Posobiec said: "Trump doesn't talk like this at all."
• Vice President JD Vance tweeted: "Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?"

Go deeper: Trump makes it personal with MAGA over Epstein

Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the latest Democratic attempt to formally demand that the Trump administration release files related to the government's investigation of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Why it matters: Democrats on Capitol Hill are steadily ramping up the pressure on Republicans to break with President Trump, asserting that those who don't are essentially colluding with a White House-led cover-up.

• Sen. Ruben Gallego's (D-Ariz.) request Thursday for unanimous consent to pass a resolution demanding the release of Epstein-related documents drew an objection from Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who called the move "pure theater."
• It takes just one senator to block a unanimous consent request.
• The FBI and Justice Department concluded that Epstein died by suicide and that he did not have a "client list," Axios scooped earlier this month.

The big picture: Democrats are eager to expose fractures they see in Trump's MAGA base after the president backed away from a campaign promise to release DOJ files related to Epstein.

• "They're protecting the rich and powerful — again," Gallego posted on X after the GOP blocked his resolution.
• House Democrats have made similar attempts this week, but Republicans have also blocked those efforts.

Between the lines: There is growing dissent at the heart of Trump's "manosphere," a coalition of anti-establishment podcasters and comedians who have become an influential part of the MAGA movement.

The other side: Mullin accused Democrats of playing a "gotcha game" and said the party is only "pretending to care" about the issue.

• "I'm all for transparency w/ Epstein files," Mullin posted on X. "Those with legit questions, fine. But let's call THIS for what it is— pure theater from a party that hates Trump."

President Trump on Thursday directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask a court for the release of all relevant grand jury testimony in the case of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The big picture: Trump has faced mounting pressure, including from MAGA circles, to take further action since his administration said a review found no evidence that convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Epstein kept a "client list" or that he was murdered.

Driving the news: "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!"

• Bondi said in response on X she's "ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts."

State of play: The Trump administration's handling of the Epstein case has divided MAGA world, with FBI deputy director Dan Bongino taking a day off from work last Friday after clashing with Bondi, Axios' Marc Caputo first reported.

• In the face of criticism over her handling of the case, Bondi said Tuesday the DOJ and FBI memo on the findings "speaks for itself" as she dodged questions on the matter at a briefing.
• A day later, the president denounced those in MAGA world criticizing the inaction as "PAST supporters" and "weaklings" for not moving on from what he called the "Jeffrey Epstein Hoax."
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier Wednesday that Trump "would not recommend" a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.

Meanwhile, House Republicans have twice blocked Democrats' attempts to force the release of the Epstein files.

Between the lines: Grand juries meet to discuss whether or not to indict a person who's been accused of a crime.

• Their transcripts are typically kept secret under federal criminal procedure rules.

What we're watching: The Department of Justice will have to submit its case for releasing the grand jury files to a federal judge in New York, where Epstein was indicted.

• Representatives for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on Thursday evening.

Go deeper: Trump threatens to sue WSJ for story alleging racy letter to Epstein

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

President Trump's firing of Democratic FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter was illegal, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Why it matters: The White House says it will appeal the decision, which will set up a Supreme Court challenge.

• Conservatives have long been trying to tee up a case that would weaken a precedent that has protected independent agency commissioners.
• Trump fired Slaughter and fellow Democratic commissioner Alvaro Bedoya in March. They both sued the administration shortly after, and Bedoya resigned from the FTC in June.

What they're saying: Judge Loren L. Alikhan wrote that the "attempt to remove Ms. Slaughter from her position as an FTC Commissioner did not comply with the FTC Act's removal protections."

• "Because those protections remain constitutional, as they have for almost a century, Ms. Slaughter's purported removal was unlawful and without legal effect."
• "As the Court recognized today, the law is clear, and I look forward to getting back to work," Slaughter said in a statement. "The for-cause removal protections that apply to my colleagues and me at the FTC also protect other independent economic regulators like the SEC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve."

The other side: "The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the President's constitutional authority to fire and remove executive officers who exercise his authority," said White House spokesman Kush Desai.

• "The Trump Administration will appeal this unlawful decision and looks forward to victory on this issue."

House Democrats are largely shooing away the idea of trying to make Republicans miss their deadline to codify around $9 billion in DOGE cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: While on paper it appears to be a rare opportunity to satisfy the demands of their base to use procedural tools to obstruct the GOP agenda, lawmakers and aides told Axios it's not that simple.

• House Republicans are scrambling to pass the rescissions bill, which would codify cuts to PBS, NPR and foreign aid, before a Friday deadline mandated by the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
• But there is a widespread belief among Democrats, including leadership, that the Trump administration would simply ignore or side-step that deadline as they have in other cases.

Driving the news: At a press conference on Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) demurred when asked if he would pull a repeat of the record-breaking eight hour, 44 minute speech he gave to delay passage of the "big, beautiful bill."

• Jeffries, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) can all speak for unlimited time in what is known as a "magic minute" speech.
• "I do expect I will participate in the debate, and I expect I will speak longer than a minute," Jeffries told reporters.
• When pressed, he added, "I think Democrats are going to continue to fight hard and do everything we can to make sure that we are pushing back aggressively against this rescissions package."

What we're hearing: Senior House Democrats and leadership aides told Axios that the prospect of a long speech appeared unlikely as of Thursday afternoon.

• One House Democrat told Axios they were told by leadership that Republicans "can play with the date, so [the deadline is] not hard and fast."
• A senior House Democrat told Axios on Thursday afternoon that leadership "doesn't think [the speech] will be long at this point."

Zoom in: Instead of trying to hold up the bill, Democrats see the most productive strategy as continuing to force Republicans to block their efforts to bring up bills forcing the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

• "Democrats have succeeded in tying the House GOP in knots over Epstein files amendments," a Democratic leadership aide told Axios.
• "It's lunacy to wring our hands over a statutory deadline that the administration will simply ignore when we've been able to send the Republicans into utter chaos," the aide said.

Zoom out: Jeffries will have to contend with expectations from his grassroots base, which are sometimes untethered to the reality of congressional procedure.

• Some Democrats said those expectations alone may be reason enough for Jeffries to deliver a long speech.
• "I think it's smart, I think he should do it. People like it. People liked the last one," Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) told Axios.

Yes, but: Members "would be really unhappy," if Jeffries gave a long speech "after what he did on July 4," a third House Democrat said on the condition of anonymity.

• Some lawmakers were frustrated that Jeffries spoke for nearly nine hours after his team maintained he would only go for about one, forcing them to scramble to reschedule flights ahead of the July 4 recess.
• "The base doesn't even give a s*** about this. The rescissions thing is not on their radar," the lawmaker added, arguing that if the grassroots does take notice of it, "they'll forget about it two days later and be like, 'What's next.'"
• "You can't feed that beast," they said.

Israel issued a rare statement of regret for a strike on the only Catholic church in Gaza, which killed three people, injured 10 and left the church seriously damaged on Thursday.

The big picture: The strike, which Israel claims was a mistake, led to backlash from world leaders, including Pope Leo XIV, and a call from President Trump to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Driving the news: Asked about Trump's reaction to the strike in Thursday's press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was "not a positive reaction."

Behind the scenes: A U.S. official told Axios that Trump was upset when he heard about the attack on the church, asked his team why Israel did it, and wanted to get Netanyahu on the phone right away.

• On that call, Trump asked Netanyahu for clarification. When Netanyahu said it had been a mistake, Trump demanded he put out a statement to that effect, the official said. Soon thereafter, he did.

What they're saying: "Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza's Holy Family Church. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful. We are grateful to Pope Leo for his words of comfort. Israel is investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites," the Israeli statement released soon thereafter said.

Between the lines: Israel hardly ever admits fault over its military's conduct in Gaza, particularly this quickly.

• This swift statement of regret underscores Trump's significant leverage over Israel when it comes to Gaza.

Update: Netanyahu called Pope Leo on Friday to discuss the attack.

• The Vatican said the pope renewed his call for a ceasefire and an end to the war, expressed concern over the humanitarian crisis, particularly for the young, sick and elderly, and "reiterated the urgency of protecting places of worship."

How it happened: Hundreds of Palestinians were sheltering in Holy Family church, which has provided refuge to the enclave's small Christian minority during the war, when the roof was struck on Thursday morning local time.

• Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said a tank fired on the church and that while Israel said it was a mistake, "we are not sure about this. They hit the church directly."
• Parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli, who came to international attention when it emerged that the late Pope Francis would call him every evening during the war, was lightly injured.

The latest: The Israel Defense Forces released a statement claiming preliminary indications were that "shrapnel" struck the church, but that the incident was under review.

Zoom out: The church sustained significant damage, according to statements from church authorities. It has continued to hold mass throughout the war and provide other services to Palestinian civilians.

• Around 70% of buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed as of January, according to a UN estimate. More than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

What to watch: There has been progress this week toward a ceasefire and hostage deal, which the mediators hope will be concluded in the coming days.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details of the call between Netanyahu and Pope Leo. The caption was corrected to reflect that it shows a service at the church of Saint Porphyrius, not at Holy Family Church.