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House Panel Releases Alleged Trump Letter From Epstein "Birthday Book"; Zelenskyy: Russian Aerial Bomb Kills 23 Civilians In Ukrainian Village; Murdoch Family Resolves Succession Dispute Over Control Of Media Empire. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 09, 2025 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So the Jeffrey Epstein saga with a new chapter this morning. The House Oversight Committee released a trove of documents with Democrats highlighting this -- an image of the letter that President Trump allegedly wrote, allegedly wrote, allegedly wrote that was included in a book of Epstein's 50th birthday -- for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. It's outlined by, as you can see very clearly, this suggestive drawing of a woman with a strategically placed signature of Donald Trump. And at the bottom is -- well, allegedly, the strategic placed signature of Donald Trump.

But from the MAGA conservative echo chamber to Republicans on Capitol Hill many or maybe even most Republicans are dismissing this or at least trying to avoid the question of what it means now -- some even suggesting that the signature of forged.

CNN's Annie Grayer is tracking all of this and there's quite a bit to track or chase down, I guess is the way to put it, Annie, when it comes to this. What does this mean for the ongoing investigation -- this release, this reveal from House Oversight in trying to get more documents out there?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, this was a big and highly anticipated reveal. The Wall Street Journal first reported existence of such an alleged letter back in July and we have been waiting to see if the House Oversight Committee was going to be able to get their hands on it.

And yesterday, as a result of a subpoena to the Jeffrey Epstein estate, they did obtain the so-called "birthday book," which was the gift for Epstein from his -- from his associate Ghislaine Maxwell for his 50th birthday that included over 200 pages of letters from 20 of his closest friends, including two references to Trump in there.

The first is what you outlined -- the letter allegedly from Trump to Epstein with a silhouette of a woman and a supposed signature, which the White House is fiercely denying. And then there's a second letter in there where an individual and Epstein appear to be joking about selling a woman to Trump for over $22,000. We've reached out to the White House on that. Now, in addition to these two references of Trump there's also letters in there from former President Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz. And then there's a separate section in this book where they're supposedly from so-called girlfriends, and all of those names are blacked out. Estate lawyers told me that they made certain redactions for privacy purposes but that lawmakers and their staff could come in person to view any documents that they wanted to.

And beyond this birthday book, which was highly anticipated, there were other documents released as well, including portions of Epstein's address book and his will.

Now, Democrats were quick to put out the references to Trump in the document production that they received. And House Oversight chair James Comer quickly criticized that, saying that Democrats were cherry-picking evidence and as a result released all 300-plus pages later last night.

But what has been really interesting to watch here is seeing how quickly Republicans have fallen in line behind Trump's denial in questioning the legitimacy of this letter and whether or not he actually signed it. And these are the same Republicans, Kate, who have been demanding Congress do more and release more documents.

I want you to take a listen to Congressman Tim Burchett from Tennessee about what he said when shown a copy of this birthday letter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I've never known Trump to be much of an artist either, so I'd kind of draw that into question.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a history of him drawing some.

BURCHETT: But the thing is it's been there for four years and now it's just come out. I just don't buy it.

RAJU: So you think really someone might have just forged this somehow and sent this to --

BURCHETT: Yeah. I mean, somehow. It's so easy to do. I just -- I just don't buy any of it right now because it's -- we have an administration -- prior administration that's had a history of dishonesty and they bring something like this out now. To me -- why wouldn't they bring it out during the campaign?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYER: So that's coming from a Republican who has been demanding transparency and more released documents.

We are expecting the House Oversight Committee to get more documents from Epstein's estate. I'm told it's coming on a rolling basis. But now there is a new political cloud hanging over this investigation on Capitol Hill. BOLDUAN: Annie Grayer, thank you so much for the reporting, as always -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now, former Trump administration official Matt Mowers, and Democratic strategist Meghan Hays.

I want to focus very quickly on one thing that Annie just brought up there, which didn't get as much attention when this was released overnight. But it's the picture of this novelty check that was given as gift to Jeffrey Epstein. And we've blanked out some of the faces there besides Epstein, but it came from a member apparently at Mar-a- Lago who was a friend of Epstein's.

And it jokes about, Meghan, a fully-depreciated woman, right, being sold from Epstein to Donald Trump. This doesn't look like anything Donald Trump signed, and we have no reason to think he was connected to this at all.

But I want you to just talk about the atmosphere surrounding Jeffrey Epstein among all of these people. Just what that reveals to you.

[07:35:05]

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION CONSULTANT: Yeah. I mean, it's disgusting and gross. That press conference last week really humanized those victims attached to all of these crimes and all of these allegations.

This coverup and this whole situation with Jeffrey Epstein is disgusting and a stain on our -- on our justice department. And it just goes to show that if you are rich and powerful you do not answer the same consequences that other people answer.

And also, I would just say the coverup is always worse than the lie, so the more that the White House and the more that people are trying to cover this up, the worse it is going to be. This is not going to stop until people have answers and people are held accountable.

BERMAN: I guess the question is cover what up? And to that point, there was that birthday letter that was released as part of this. The White House strenuously denied that Trump wrote it, that he drew the doodle, or that he signed it.

Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson, says time for @newscorp of The Wall Street Journal to open that checkbook and sign a signature defamation.

The thing is, Mike (sic), is that the signature looks like a lot -- like a lot of other signatures that Donald Trump signed at the time when he used one word -- you know, one name there. Very, very similar.

So why issue this fight saying it's not his signature when it's so easy to go check and compare it to so many signatures that look exactly like it? MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL, PRESIDENT, VALCOUR GLOBAL PUBLIC STRATEGY (via Webex by Cisco): Well look, the White House says it's not authentic, so I'll take them at their word on that.

But what I will say is, like, there's no surprise that the rich and famous of New York and Palm Beach knew each other and they socialized, but it doesn't mean they really knew everything about each person, right?

And so, especially when you have folks like Jeffrey Epstein take out the totally truly depraved part of everything, obviously, with soliciting underaged women and the rest of it, he was still just a grifter and a huckster in New York who was trying to saddle up with every person with a checkbook he could find to try to get them to invest in some get-rich-quick scheme. Those are the types of people he would try to glom onto.

So it's no surprise that he would travel in some of those social circles. But as we all know, for folks who are going to cocktail parties in New York you sometimes barely know some of the people who you are actually interacting with there.

BERMAN: Yeah. You just -- some of this release -- there's a lot of people who seem to have an awful lot of jokes about Jeffrey Epstein and young girls -- you know, and things being sold and trafficked there. So it's just -- it's a little disturbing when you look at the totality of the ways they were having that discussion.

Another issue that the White House doesn't talk a lot about, which is the jobs situation in this country right now. The jobs report that came out Friday which showed, actually, jobs lost last June. We're standing by for a revision in last year and this first quarter job report. Some analysts say there could be 800,000 fewer jobs in the economy than previously thought.

And I want to read you a quote from Politico this morning -- the Politico Playbook, Meghan. They write, "The nerves really are jangling down Pennsylvania Avenue, one person close to the White House tells Dasha Burns. There are a lot of points of anxiety on the economy, Dasha is told, with inflation, housing, and the national debt top of mind -- fueling concerns about whether some of these problems are unmanageable without a great deal of pain."

What do you think the impact of this jobs environment and all these numbers coming out will be on the political discussion starting now?

MOWERS: (INAUDIBLE).

HAYS: I just think it is a signifier of how bad the economy --

BERMAN: Go ahead, Meghan.

HAYS: Go ahead, Matt. Oh, sorry.

I just think it's a signifier of how bad the economy actually is and how bad the economy is going to be. These are lagging indicators so that means that we are already moving past these numbers. And probably the jobs numbers are worse.

You've already -- you had a segment earlier that we're losing manufacturing jobs. With the big, beautiful bill, people losing their health insurance and people losing benefits with their children's food assistance programs.

The economy is going to get worse and more people are going to be unemployed, and those are determinants of how people vote. Over 25 percent of the people say the economy is their number one issue. Over anything else, it is their top issue. And people are always going to vote on how they feel and how they feel at the end of every month when they don't have money to pay for things for their families. And going into the midterms that is not a great place to be for Republicans.

BERMAN: Matt, where are the jobs? Where are the manufacturing jobs the president promised, which are lagging and disappearing?

MOWERS: Well, I think a couple -- a couple of things here. One, I think you'll see the economy turn after two big decisions.

One will be what the Supreme Court or what the courts eventually say about the fight over tariffs. There's a lot of predictability that businesses are looking for whether the tariffs are in or not. I think they will then be able to adjust and thrive.

The second, of course, is what happens with the Fed at the end of the day. If the Fed goes through with what they telegraphed that they are going to reduce interest rates, which most folks who look at the economy believe they should at this point, that's certainly going to ensure that there's additional investment in the economy and huge growth. We're going to see additional homebuyers enter the market.

And there is one piece I don't think we're really looking at too, which is the unemployment rate is also based upon the labor participation rate -- the number of people who are looking for jobs.

[07:40:05]

Let's not forget that because of the work requirements saying that if you're an able-bodied individual you no longer can just sit around and receive a government check every day -- you have to go out and seek a job -- that you are going to see a higher rate of people actually try to participate in the economy. And some of that is just kicking in right now.

And I think as we see the combination of certainty around the tariffs, the Fed actually do what it does, and then actually have those people who are newly looking for jobs factoring into reports like this actually go and get a line and find them, you're actually going to see this level out certainly in time between the -- before the midterms.

BERMAN: Just to -- a couple of points. You're right about the unemployment rate. That does involve those looking for jobs and it would include people in the country illegal. That's not the jobs numbers though -- the jobs added, jobs subtracted -- which are now declining.

And I would also note there was a separate report out last week that shows for the first time in a long time there are fewer jobs available than people looking for them.

The job situation, according to every bit of data you see, is just not great right now. And Meghan, you know, how much focus would you like to see on that front Democrats compared to, say, Jeffrey Epstein?

HAYS: I think that they need to be focused on the economy. I think that's what wins elections. I do think that there is a -- both things can happen at the same time. I think here is an under -- people need to understand the coverup here in the Jeffrey Epstein, and what is Donald Trump hiding, and who is he protecting here?

But I do, again, think the economy, as I said many times, is the most important factor for everyone going into the midterms and going into the '28 election. How people feel and how much money they have to spend and what they are able to do with the money that they are making is the most important factor in how people vote.

BERMAN: Matt Mowers, Meghan Hays, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Jury selection continues today in what could be the wildest trial that people have seen in a while -- the trial of a man accused of trying to assassinate then-candidate Donald Trump at this Florida golf club last year. Fifty-nine-year-old Ryan Routh is intent on representing himself in this trial. If convicted, he faces -- could face life in prison.

On Monday, the judge dismissed 20 potential jurors who noted hardships that they would -- that would prevent them from serving. Judge Aileen Cannon -- yes, that judge, Aileen Cannon, from the dismissing the classified documents case -- also dismissed Routh's submitted questions to jurors, which included questions about their views on Gaza. What they would do if they were driving and "saw a turtle in the road." Most other questions coming from prosecutors were approved.

Here now with me, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

So, Joey, choosing to represent himself has already come with -- I'm going to read this. "Ryan Routh challenging Trump to a 'beatdown session' or a round of golf, adding that if he wins, he can execute me. If I win, I get his job."

That coming out in court filings -- not necessarily out in jury selection.

Now you have these questions he wants to ask the jury. What do you make of it? What does it do?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: So it makes it into a circus. Make no mistake about it, Kate -- good morning to you -- these are significant charges. He could spend the rest of his life in jail.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: The judge warned him saying, hey listen, you have able counsel. You should avail yourself of those able counsel. There are procedural rules that you have to follow in admitting evidence and precluding evidence, et cetera. He opted, as the Constitution allows, to waive his right to counsel and to go forward.

I think though, Kate, that the judge will keep him on a short leash and give him some leeway, and that if he becomes disruptive or things go off the rails, she'll say you know what -- because there is counsel standing by --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

JACKSON: Standby counsel, step in and finish this up.

I mean, he's making a mockery of it. There's nothing too funny about it --

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: -- given the consequences involved.

BOLDUAN: Why does he want to -- it's so high-risk.

JACKSON: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Why would he want to represent -- why does anyone ever want to represent themselves?

JACKSON: So what you find -- and, of course, people's motivations are their own, right --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: -- so you can only read into it. But what you find is that sometimes a) people just want to be heard, b) it provides a significant platform.

And you could tell by the questions he's asking --

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: -- about Gaza, et cetera, that he wants that platform. And I think he wants to use this to indicate his real disdain for the President of the United States, in addition to the policies. I think he'll use it for that.

But he needs to be careful. Trials are about what they're about. They're not about what's happening in the world; they're about what's happening in the courtroom and they're about the evidence pertaining to your guilt or lack thereof. And if you don't focus on that they become irrelevant, which becomes objectionable, which means objection sustained. It's not admitted for the jury. BOLDUAN: The charges that he's facing -- I think we had them up -- they include attempted assassination of major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

What does it -- where's -- how high is the bar here --

JACKSON: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- for the prosecution to prove this case?

JACKSON: So I think there's a lot of evidence, right? So whenever you talk about criminal law you look at a person's mind -- the mental state, right? What is your intention? And I think that's what prosecutors will do.

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: They'll look at issues like premeditation and what was he doing. And they have these records with respect to him tracking the movements of then-candidate Trump. Where is he going to be such that I can be there?

[07:45:07]

In addition to that they have him staked out at that location. They have the items he left, including a rifle, at that location. They have photos, apparently, of him going away. They have photos of the SUV he was in, and they caught the SUV. They have indications that he made an admission and confession that it was him.

So I think they will look to the evidence and the proof with respect to what his intentions were. Did he possess a firearm? Was he a felon when he possessed it? Did it have a defaced serial number? And what was he attempting to do -- the message he was attempting to send. And what, if any, criminality he engaged in.

And remember, Kate, he wasn't successful, but you can still charge attempt because you need a substantial step in the direction of the crime. I think they have that here. Difficult enough if he had an attorney. Without one, wow, it's such a task.

BOLDUAN: Hmm.

Joey, it's good to see you.

JACKSON: Always. Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight Ukraine says a Russian aerial attack killed at least 21 people and wounded many more. And it happened in a small village in the Donetsk region. President Zelenskyy says the bomb hit as elderly residents gathered to collect their monthly retirement payments. CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is

here with the latest. Nick, tell us about this attack.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John. The death toll now rising to 23 with 18 injured. The images you're seeing there heavily blurred -- utterly horrific. A scene where what was clearly a Ukrainian postal van was gathered near a tree and near a children's playground. You can see in the back of the images there yellow slides from that children's playground. And around them, clearly, dozens of pensioners collecting their monthly payments.

That town had been briefly occupied at the start of the war but now only eight kilometers away from Russia's slow advance.

Remember, as Russia slowing takes parts of Donetsk, something that Putin has wanted Ukraine to cede to him entirely, they're going to get closer and closer to key villages like this where many of the elderly stay because they simply can't afford to leave or have nowhere to go.

A gathering of people like this, if you're being generous to Russian targeting, which is often callous about civilian deaths tolls, may have looked like something approaching a military target you might argue. But clearly, the scenes on the ground there with the Ukrainian postal van so far from that. And a long history here of Russia consistently hitting civilian targets.

This toll may continue to rise possibly but remember now we are on Tuesday where at the weekend after the massive record aerial assault against Kyiv.

President Trump said he'll talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin very soon. He even said that yesterday or today European leaders would discuss a new packet of sanctions. We've heard nothing about that now.

But still, the toll grows on Ukraine's civilians. Horrific attacks like this a reminder of just a constant barbarity of Russia's assault as we also see now, too, John, signs of Russian forces amassing along the eastern front line to give one last push on their summer offensive before fall sets in, John.

BERMAN: Yeah, the suffering civilians clearly under the target of these bombs. They can't wait for this phone call.

Nick Paton Walsh, thanks very much for that.

All right. Breaking overnight the Murdochs split up their media empire. What this means for Fox News.

And a crash sends a sheriff's deputy dangling off an overpass. The rescue effort to pull him to safety.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:38] BERMAN: All right. New data this morning shows reading and math scores for 12th graders dropping to their lowest levels in more than 20 years. Forty-five percent of seniors scoring below basic in math, and 32 percent below basic in reading. Eighth graders also lost ground in science.

Happening now, authorities in Mexico City are searching for the parents of a newborn baby girl found abandoned on the street. A person biking in the area heard her cries and found her still attached to her umbilical cord. Police rushed the baby to the hospital where doctors determined she was born about six months into the pregnancy. She is in serious but stable condition.

In Florida, wild boar on the lam inside a house. The animal shattered a glass door as it broke into the home, refusing to leave. It actually attacked the family dog. Eventually, local authorities were able to get the boar to chase them out of the home and escaped their capture and fled into the bushes where, as far as we know, it could still be lurking at this moment. The dog received some stitches after the attack but reportedly is doing just fine.

Two sheriff's deputies recovering this morning after a tractor-trailer crashed into the patrol car leaving one of the officers dangling from a highway overpass. The sheriff's office said residents in nearby Gasty (PH) rushed over to help that crash. Good thing they had a big ladder there. That crash now under investigation -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Back to the wild boar. Would you volunteer to be the one being chased or would you ask me to do it?

BERMAN: It's like Pamplona. You're -- the running from the boars. That's the Florida version, like, right? I mean, only in Florida do you have the running -- the running of the boars.

BOLDUAN: The running of the boars. I feel like it must be a segment coming in our future.

BERMAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's move to this.

Today is a big day for Apple. The company is expected to reveal an ultrathin model of the iPhone, the first major redesign of its signature product since 2017. It's part of the annual product extravaganza that we all see where CEO Tim Cook shows the latest and greatest. But with bumpy sales and a lot of competition in the AI space, Apple is under some real pressure to really wow this year.

CNN's Clare Duffy here with us right now. All right, tell me everything. What are we expecting? What's awe-dropping? I didn't know that it was even a word.

[07:55:00]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah, that is the phrase that they're using to tease this year's iPhone event. Look, this is like the Super Bowl for Apple's diehard superfans. Everybody always closely watches this event. But as you said, the pressure is really on Apple this year to wow consumers with their new releases.

So we are expecting to see the newest lineup of the iPhone, the iPhone 17. That will come with the things that we usually see. New colors, longer battery life, new and better cameras.

BOLDUAN: Better (INAUDIBLE).

DUFFY: We're also expecting to see three new Apple watches. The base model, the Apple Watch Series 11, the pro model, the Ultra 3, and then a lower-priced model the SE3. And those are expected to have larger screens, better batteries, faster chips.

And then the AirPods Pro. The pro level of its AirPods is expected to get its first upgrade in three years. That's expected to have an improved battery case, charging case, and also potentially live translation capabilities and a heart rate monitor.

But as you said, the big, most anticipated announcement today is this thinner version of the iPhone, which as been dubbed in rumors as the iPhone Air. This is going to be about three millimeters thinner than other regular iPhone models. It's expected to have a larger screen than the base iPhone 17. But that could come at the cost of things like battery life and camera quality.

But Apple is hoping that's going to provide sort of a mid-priced option for consumers who don't want its base model but don't want to shell out for its pro models after other alternatives like the Plus and the Mini have failed to sort of catch on with consumers.

BOLDUAN: Lay out for everyone why the stakes for Apple are so high this year.

DUFFY: Yeah. I mean, this has been a really tough year for Apple. Shares are down about two percent -- 2.5 percent year-to-date. That's compared to the real tech rally we've seen --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

DUFFY: -- for other big tech companies. And that's in part because a lot of the recent iPhone launches have been more evolutionary than revolutionary. People are going longer between upgrades.

But Apple is also facing real competition, as you said Kate, in the AI space. We've seen rivals like Android devices, Samsung devices get more AI upgrades. And analysts have told me that Apple is at risk of becoming no longer the cool device. It's still -- you know, we're not expecting to see big AI announcements during this event but they're hoping that their other improvements are going to convince people to upgrade their iPhones this year.

BOLDUAN: All right, we will hear more today. Thank you, Clare.

DUFFY: Thank you.

BERMAN: Did I hear you say shorter battery life maybe on that?

DUFFY: Potentially on that thinner version.

BOLDUAN: But at a lower price point.

BERMAN: I haven't heard anyone clamoring for a shorter battery life on the iPhone -- just saying, just saying.

BOLDUAN: Thinner for shorter battery -- some people might like thinner for sure.

DUFFY: It won't take up as much space in your pocket.

BOLDUAN: There you go.

BERMAN: Hey, if you say tomato, I say longer battery life.

All right. New this morning the future of the Murdoch media empire with Rupert's chosen heir Lachlan getting control after a long, drawn out battle. His brother and two of his sisters took billion-dollar payouts.

Here now to explain it all, chief media analyst Brian Stelter. Brian, you've been following this for a long time. Explain this breakup.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: This idea started about five years ago. The idea was that James Murdoch, Rupert's younger son, might try to take over the family business some day and straighten out the right-wing tilt of the brands.

James Murdoch -- he has been horrified by the programming on Fox News. Horrified by the anti-climate change rhetoric from some of the newspapers. He has been on the outside of the family business and really disturbed by the content.

So for the last five years there's been this idea -- this speculation that maybe James would team up with his sisters and try to take over the family business some day when Rupert Murdoch dies.

Well, we know that Rupert Murdoch secretly went to court in Nevada to try to stop his kids from plotting a takeover behind his back. Rupert Murdoch lost that battle last year. We covered it here on CNN. He lost in court in Nevada. But what we found out overnight John is that for the last nine months Rupert and his chosen son Lachlan have been negotiating a settlement.

So that's the big news here and that's really the culmination of this multiyear guessing game about the future of Fox News, and The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.

It turns out that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan -- they have reached a deal with the other siblings where they are going to buy out the other children. They're going to buy out their shares to the tune of about a billion dollars each.

And what it means for consumers of the news around the world is that Lachlan Murdoch, the conservative heir to the throne -- he will remain in charge. Even when Rupert Murdoch, age 94, passes away, Lachlan will remain in power controlling Fox and the other brands.

For people who have been watching the media empire known as the "House of Murdoch" for decades, this provides some clarity about what's going to happen in the future. But there are still some big questions here, John.

BERMAN: Yeah. What about the other siblings who are walking away with more than a billion dollars each? Where are they likely to use their influence to -- you know, I guess in addition to do whatever they want with that much money.

STELTER: Right. This is the big mystery. The big mystery now is why did they agree to sell their shares? Why did they agree to divest of the family business for about a billion dollars each? And maybe it is just about the money, but I think it's more complicated than that. You have an aging father, a patriarch of the family companies. They've been at odds for years. You know, Rupert imagined this as something called project family harmony.