Today's EPSTEIN story

House releases lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump

What happened
The estate of Jeffrey Epstein yesterday turned over a trove of subpoenaed documents to the House Oversight Committee. Before the committee published most of them last night, Democrats released a sexually suggestive 2003 birthday note purportedly from President Donald Trump to Epstein. When The Wall Street Journal in July accurately described the birthday note, featuring text shaped to fit inside the sketched contours of a naked woman, Trump denied writing it, said "I don't draw pictures," and sued the newspaper for defamation.

Who said what
"We have certain things in common, Jeffrey," the note signed "Donald" read. "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret." After its release, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was "very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it." Another spokesperson posted recent images of Trump's official full-name signature, claiming the "Donald" scrawl on the letter did not match.

But the signature looks "remarkably similar" to more personal correspondence Trump signed "closer to the time period of the birthday book," The New York Times said. The note's "signature and font," words and phrases, and "line drawing" strokes all resemble Trump letters and doodles from the early 2000s, the Journal said. The White House's denials are just "weird," Aaron Blake said at CNN. The note "comes from Epstein's estate," so for it to be fake, "someone would have had to plant it in Epstein's possessions a long time ago, somehow."

What next?
The note's publication has "only intensified a furor that the president has been toiling to stamp out" over his GOP-splitting decision "not to fully release" the Epstein files, The New York Times said.

Today's BUSINESS Story

Murdoch's conservative son wins succession battle

What happened
The family of media mogul Rupert Murdoch announced yesterday they have resolved their yearslong battle over control of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and other media properties. Under the terms of the deal, Murdoch's politically conservative son, Lachlan, will have sole control of the trust that controls the media empire after the 94-year-old patriarch's death, while Lachlan's siblings James, Elisabeth and Prudence will each receive payouts of about $1.1 billion.

Who said what
The Murdochs' "Shakespearean succession saga" began in earnest with "Rupert and Lachlan's audacious bid to unilaterally change" the terms of the family's "irrevocable trust" so the more politically moderate siblings couldn't shift the ideological bent of a "media empire that holds vast political sway across three continents," The New York Times said. Lachlan may have secured control, but really "both sides are getting what they wanted," as "Prue, Liz and James" were "eager to break" from the conservative dynasty and "are getting considerably more for their shares than Lachlan had been willing to pay" before they beat him in court.

What next?
The "real-life resolution" to the "family brawl" that inspired the HBO series "Succession" will preserve the "conservative tilt of Murdoch's media outlets," Reuters said, especially Fox News, which "continues to be the No. 1 U.S. cable news network." It's now clear "there will always be a conservative guardian of Fox News," Enders Analysis CEO Claire Enders said. "And frankly, if I were a shareholder, I would really think this was a very good move."

It's not all bad

A honeybee "superfood" created by Oxford University scientists and fed to several hives resulted in colonies with up to 15 times more babies that made it to adulthood. When eating pollen and nectar, bees get a lipid called sterol. The Oxford team spent 15 years studying sterols, trying to replicate what the bees need for survival. Using gene editing, they created a "breakthrough" yeast that produces six sterols and other necessary nutrients.

Under the radar

The Caribbean island sitting on a digital 'gold mine'

The Caribbean nation of Anguilla is a "small island with a big secret," said the travel site Skift. It holds "one of the most lucrative pieces of digital real estate in the world": the website domain name .ai.

When the internet was first carved into country codes in the 1980s, laying the "groundwork for the digital era," no one could have imagined that "two little letters" could have the power to change the fate of a nation, Skift said. But for an island that's home to fewer than 16,000 people, the assignment of its domain name has turned out to be a "hidden Caribbean gold mine," lying dormant before becoming a valuable commodity.

After years of obscurity, Anguilla's domain has exploded in popularity with the "continuing boom" in artificial intelligence following the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, said the BBC. The AI surge has led to increasing numbers of companies and entrepreneurs paying the island nation to "register new websites with the .ai tag."

But Anguilla isn't the first country to "cash in on the demand for websites with distinctive address endings," said The Associated Press. Perhaps the most successful case is the "chain of coral atolls and reef islands" that makes up the remote nation of Tuvalu, said The Washington Post. In 2018, the country profited to the tune of "$19 million in license fees" from its .tv web domain, otherwise known as the "worldwide metonym for broadcast entertainment." And "thanks to the recent surge in streaming sites," its income stream won't be slowing down any time soon.

On this day

September 9, 2015

Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning monarch in British history, surpassing the record of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria at 63 years and 216 days. Elizabeth II died in 2022 after a 70-year reign, the second-longest in recorded history, behind only the 72-year rule of France's King Louis XIV.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Midway Blitz'

"White House: 'Blitz' to start in Chicago," the Chicago Tribune says on Tuesday's front page. "Trump's 'Midway Blitz'" is "about 'scaring Illinoians,'" according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), the Chicago Sun-Times says. "Justices lift limits on immigration raids in L.A. area," The Washington Post says. "Endgame of troop buildup unclear," says the Los Angeles Times. "Deportation policy sees three big legal setbacks," says the Arizona Republic. "Despite wars, Trump hypes his worthiness for Nobel Prize," USA Today says. "Hyundai raid bares shortage of technical skills in the U.S.," The Wall Street Journal says. "Raid gets job push stuck in the mud," says The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "France reeling as government collapses again," says The New York Times.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Screenie meanies

An ordinance being considered in Toyoake, Japan, would limit children and adults to only two hours a day on their smartphones. If passed, it would "prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues," said Mayor Masafumi Koki. But backlash has been swift from residents, who argue that two hours is not enough time to read or watch a movie online. They could easily get around the proposed rule, however, as there won't be any penalties for exceeding the time limit.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Rebekah Evans, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.