AVDD Press Round Up
22 July 2025
Press Round Up
22 July 2025
Trump’s Wall Street Journal suit over Epstein story faces timing hurdle; Reuters, Luc Cohen
Key Points:
Trump’s lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal stemming from the Journal’s article about Trump’s alleged birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein will likely face significant challenges, including a Florida state rule over the timing of defamation lawsuits.
According to lawyers cited by Reuters, Trump’s legal team does not appear to have complied with the Florida law requiring anyone bringing a defamation case against a “newspaper, periodical, or other medium” to notify the defendant at least five days before filing suit.
Even if the case proceeds an “actual malice” standard would require that Trump must prove the Journal knew the articles were false or acted with “reckless disregard for the truth.”
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent, said the company was “confident of the accuracy of its reporting.”
Analysis: Tulsi Gabbard’s ‘seditious conspiracy’ claim is based on thin gruel; Washington Post, Glenn Kessler
Key Points:
Gabbard’s claim of a “treasonous conspiracy” and “direct intent to cover up the truth about what occurred” flies in the face of four previous U.S. government investigations and an Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that extensively investigated Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Gabbard’s report is largely based on emails, meeting agendas and low-level bureaucratic issues which surface little new information. Gabbard exaggerates the significance of the ‘Steele dossier’ to the findings of the ICA.
Marco Rubio, as Republican senator from Florida serving on the Intelligence Committee, signed off on reports that scrutinized the same ICA that is attacked by Gabbard. Rubio along with five other Republican senators signed a statement saying: “As is evident to those who read all five volumes of the Committee’s report, the Russian government inappropriately meddled in our 2016 general election in many ways but then-Candidate Trump was not complicit.”
Gabbard falsely suggests that Russia hacked into U.S. election systems when the ICA actually focused on Russia’s hacking operations that targeted the Democratic National Convention. Gabbard misquotes news reports to buttress her claims of a ‘Deep State’ conspiracy to leak false information to the media.
See also, The Bulwark, Gabbard Garbles 2016 ‘Russiagate Intelligence
Fed Newly Defends Renovations as White House Intensifies Attacks; New York Times, Colby Smith
Key Points:
The Trump administration is alleging that renovations at Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington have been mismanaged; possibly as a pretext to fire central bank chair Jerome H. Powell.
Fed is defending the renovations by publishing a virtual tour of the renovation
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for the Fed to conduct “an exhaustive internal review of its non-monetary policy operations”. Bessent also stated on a social media post: “Significant mission creep and institutional growth have taken the Fed into areas that potentially jeopardize the independence of its core monetary policy mission".
Last week Trump waived a draft letter firing Powell to House Republicans at a meeting at the Oval Office.
See also, Reuters: US Treasury chief: No need for Fed’s Powell to step down right now
Marines Will Begin Withdrawing From Los Angeles, New York Times, Shawn Hubler and Eric Schmitt
Key Points:
The Pentagon will begin withdrawing 700 active duty Marines who were sent to Los Angeles last month by President Trump on 7 June after protests erupted over immigration raids. The Marine withdrawal comes after 2,000 California National Guard soldiers were pulled out of the city.
The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell stated “With stability returning to Los Angeles, the secretary has directed the redeployment of the 700 Marines whose presence sent a clear message: Lawlessness will not be tolerated”.
LA Mayor Karen Bass who had compared the deployment to an “armed occupation” called the withdrawal “another sign of progress” and stated “they (the Marines) had nothing to do here…They’ve just been standing in front of federal buildings when there are no protests and nothing going on. It’s an inappropriate use of our men and women who choose to serve.”
A federal trial scheduled for next month will determine whether the National Guard and Marines were used legally in Los Angeles.