THE DONALD LETTER:  Amidst political pressure for the Department of Justice to release files about the late Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal has reported on a collection of birthday letters given to the accused sex trafficker on his 50^th birthday, including one they say came from Donald Trump.

  The note in question bore Trump’s name and a line drawing of a naked woman with a “Donald” signature in the place of pubic hair, surrounded with several lines of typewritten text. The message with the line: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

  The Journal quotes Trump denying he wrote the letter saying; “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”

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

  Right wing activist Laura Loomer, who’s called for a special counsel to look into the handling of the Epstein files, called the letter “totally fake.” She wrote on Twitter/X: “Everyone who actually KNOWS President Trump knows he doesn’t type letters. He writes notes in big black Sharpie.”

  In a late development last night, Trump said he authorized Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi to seek public release of grand jury testimony in the Epstein case and Bondi said she would make that request in federal court today. The release of grand jury testimony, if granted, would fall short of demands by Republicans and conspiracy theorists for all the Epstein file contents.

JUST SWELL: The White House yesterday announced that President Trump was diagnosed with “chronic venous insufficiency,” which causes swelling in the ankles. Trump had noticed the swelling in his ankles and bruising on his right hand, which has to shake a lot of other hands.

  The ankle swelling had become publicly visible. At least one news photographer focused on it in recent days with a picture that showed the President’s ankles wider than his shoes.

  Dr. Sean P. Barbabella, the President’s doctor, said in a memo that the condition is “benign” and common in people over 70. Trump is 79. Barbabella said testing showed no sign of heart disease and Trump’s blood tests were all within normal limits. But this is Trump’s first admission of any human frailty either physical … or mental.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— Congress followed the Senate in clawing back $9 billion in federal expenditures, including $1.1 billion for public broadcasting. It could be a fatal blow for some small town public radio stations.

  Public broadcasting was brought to life by both parties and is now seen by the right as a mouthpiece for the left. An executive in Rochester, NY said, “It will test every single shred of creativity we have to continue to try to serve our mission, which we will do.”

— The Justice Department’s civil rights division asked a federal judge to sentence a Louisville police officer convicted in the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor to one day in prison, the time he’s already spent behind bars.

  Former detective Brett Hankison was convicted in a federal trial of one count of violating Taylor’s civil rights by using excessive force in shooting through Taylor’s window during a drug raid. He fired 10 shots in an incident that set off protests across the country.

  Hankinson faces a potential life in prison even though his bullets were not the ones that killed Taylor and the officers who fired the fatal shots were never charged.

— The Department of Justice asked sheriffs across California to provide lists of inmates in jails who are not US citizens, and warned that if they do not comply, the department would “pursue all available means of obtaining the data.”

The request from the DOJ also seeks information on crimes the inmates committed and their scheduled release dates. 

  Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been under pressure from the White House senior aide Stephen Miller to increase arrests of undocumented immigrants. 

— Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum yesterday toured Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay with an eye toward re-opening “The Rock” as a federal prison for “the worst of the worst.”

  Alcatraz was closed in 1963 because it cost triple what it cost to run any other prison. It would take many millions of dollars, possibly a billion to put it back in operation.

CANCELLED: CBS announced that it is cancelling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and ending the long-running franchise next May. CBS executives said in a statement that this was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

  It is also happening against the backdrop of a merger between CBS’s parent company Paramount and Skydance that needs approval of the Trump administration. Colbert had criticized Paramount’s $16 million settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against CBS’s “60 Minutes” as “a big fat bribe.”

  “The Late Show” has been on CBS since 1993. Some Democratic lawmakers say this looks like a political move. Colbert’s studio audience erupted in boos when he told them the news yesterday.  Colbert said, “Yeah, I share your feelings.”

THE SPIN RACK:  A business director and his human resources executive were outed having an affair when they were shown on the “kiss cam” at a Coldplay concert in Massachusetts. As the couple ducked and hid their faces, rocker Chris Martin said to the crowd, “Whoa, look at these two. Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”

BELOW THE FOLD:  One or more foxes in Grand Teton National Park has stolen the shoes of 32 campers this summer. The Park Service issued a  “wanted” poster  with an illustration of a fox with a sneaker in his mouth and the message, “Wanted for grand theft footwear.” 

-30-