September 9, 2025 • 13 mins
In this Briefing, Jon Decker examines President Trump’s threat to send the National Guard to Chicago amid rising crime, the revival of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal linked to a letter allegedly signed by Trump, and a federal court ruling against him in a defamation case. The White House Briefing Room can be heard weekdays on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, ro wherever you get your podcasts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Tuesday, September
the ninth. I'm John Decker. President Trump threatens Chicago once again,
raising the possibility of deploying the National Guard to the
Windy City.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And we'd love to go into Chicago on straightened out.
Do you know Washington, d C. You'll be happy to
know is a free and safe zone. It's so safe.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Threatening Democratic House members release a screenshot of what appears
to be a letter to Jeffrey Epstein signed by President Trump.
And the President loses a bid in federal court to
overturn an eighty three million dollar defamation award. But we
begin with the President toying once again with the idea
(00:46):
of sending the National Guard to the streets of Chicago.
For weeks, President Trump has threatened Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson
and the Governor of Illinois JB. Pritzker, with the idea
of deploying the National Guard to Illinois, specifically to the
streets of Chicago. And the reason has to do with
(01:08):
the increasing amount of crime that Chicago has experienced over
the past few weeks. In fact, over the Labor Day holiday,
there were fifty eight shootings on the streets of Chicago,
eight murders all together. And despite this upticking crime, there
has been no effort, it seems, to tamp down the
(01:30):
amount of crime that's happening in Chicago, one of the
most populous cities in this country. Now, the President believes
he has a blueprint to bring down crime rates in
every American city, and that blueprint is what he has
done in the nation's capital, in Washington, d C. A
little less than a month ago, the President deployed National
(01:53):
Guard troops on the streets of Washington, d C. And
there has been a noticeable decrease crime crime of all sorts,
but particularly violent crime in the nation's capital. The President
touts this almost every day, the fact that crime has
declined so much in Washington, DC. And he believes that
(02:15):
he can do this in Chicago. He can do this
in Baltimore, and he can do this in New York
City as well. Those are three cities, in particular, by
the way, run by Democratic mayors that the President believes
that if the National Guard is deployed to those cities,
crime will come down in the same way it's come
down in the nation's capital. Now, the President on Monday
(02:39):
at an event at the Museum of the Bible, brought
up the city of Chicago, and brought up trying to
reach out to Illinoi's Governor JB. Pritzker, trying to convince
him that the National Guard can actually help the state
of Illinois and can help the city of Chicago. Let's
listen to what the President said Monday morning at the
(03:00):
Museum of the Bible.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You try and reason with people, like in Chicago with
the governor and the mayor. You try and reason with them,
and it's like you're talking to a wall. It's just
doesn't I assume it's just a political ideology. They're not stupid.
People must be an ideology that's just buried in the
head and you can't do a damn thing about it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Now, the model for the president is Washington, DC, and
the President really believes that his actions have had a
direct impact in terms of bringing down crime precipitously in
the nation's capital. Let's listen to what the President said
a few moments after that last sound But.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We are a safe city. You can walk to a restaurant,
you can walk to the White House if you work there.
You could walk to the Capitol and even the Democrats,
I can't believe it, but they don't want to admit it,
But I can't believe it. We could do the same
thing in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. We did it.
We saved ls A.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The President says his focus is simply trying to reach
out and help out cities like Chicago that have experienced
an increase in crime. But there's no doubt about the
fact that this effort is also a good political issue
for the President and for Republicans as they look ahead
(04:17):
to the mid term elections next year. There will be
many issues that will be on the ballot in twenty
twenty six, but the President believes that crime is an
issue that resonates with Americans of all stripes, Republicans, Democrats,
and independents. The President often asks reporters themselves if they
(04:41):
or someone they know have experienced violent crime. And the
fact is is that many people have indeed experienced crime
of some sort, whether it's personally a mugging or in
my case, I once had my vehicle stolen in Washington,
DC and I got it back thankfully, within twenty four hours.
(05:01):
But we've all experienced to a certain degree crime or
know someone who has, and that's the reason why the
President feels this is a winning issue for Republicans as
they look to hold on to both the House and
the Senate in twenty twenty six. In the past few days,
the President has toyed with the idea of deploying the
(05:23):
National Guard, specifically to Chicago. I don't know if the
President is going to greenlight that effort, but the President
on social media in other forums has indicated that he
will make a decision on this in the next few days.
And that's regardless of whether JB. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois,
(05:44):
invites the National Guard into his state. It's much easier
to deploy the National Guard in Washington, d C. It's
permitted under law under DC's charter. It's not so easy
legally to deploy the National Guard into a state that
doesn't want the National Guard, and that clearly is the
case for JB. Pritzker. Now once again, Jeffrey Epstein back
(06:07):
in the news. Even though the White House felt this
issue had gone away in mid August, Congress is now
back from its August recess, and now that Congress is back,
Democrats in particular, but some Republicans as well want to
refocus Congress's attention on Jeffrey Epstein. On Monday, lawyers for
(06:28):
Epstein's estate gave Congress a copy of a birthday book
that was put together for Epstein's fiftieth birthday, and included
in that birthday book, according to those who've seen it,
is a letter with President Trump's signature, and he says
that's not his signature. The House Oversight Committee members confirmed
(06:52):
that they received a copy of this book, including this
purported letter from President Trump and a second letter that
also references Donald Trump with a crew joke about a
woman from another Epstein associate. The Wall Street Journal in particular,
has been all over this particular story. They reported on
(07:14):
the book back in July. They reported on the letter
that they say bears Donald Trump's name back in July,
and it also, according to the Journal, contains typewritten text
framed by the outline of a naked woman. The letter concluded,
happy birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret,
(07:37):
and below that is a signature with the squiggly Donald
below the waist. President Trump has denied writing the letter
drawing that picture, and he calls it fake. In fact,
he has filed a ten billion dollar lawsuit against the
Wall Street Journal, its reporters, the journal's publisher, it's company,
(08:01):
its executives, including Rupert Murdoch, and he alleges in this
lawsuit that he has been defamed. He says the letter was,
in his words, non existent. A spokesperson for the journal,
a spokesperson for the company that publishes the journal, says
that we have full confidence in the rigor and the
(08:23):
accuracy of our reporting. There was a comment put out
in a paper statement by Caroline Leavitt, the White House
Press Secretary. She said in a social media post as
well that the President's legal team will continue to pursue
its defamation case against the Wall Street Journal. And she
(08:45):
said in this post on X as I have said
all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw
this picture and he did not sign it. Now, this
copy of this birthday book, which was released on Monday,
was all in response to a subpoena from Congressman James Comer.
(09:07):
He's a Republican from Kentucky. He's the chairman of the
House Oversight Committee, and he's a big defender generally of
President Trump. He's an ally of President Trump, and he
put out a statement on Monday in which he wrote,
its appalling Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are cherry
(09:27):
picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein estate today.
He also said the purpose of their investigation was to,
in his words, bring transparency and accountability for survivors of
Epstein's heinous crimes and the American people. He went on
(09:49):
to say that President Trump is not accused of any
wrongdoing and Democrats are ignoring the new information the committee
received today. There was also a response from one of
the top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Robert Garcia,
put out his own statement in which he said, mister President,
this is not a hoax. You are lying to the
(10:11):
American public. You are involved in a cover up. Now,
the Oversight Committee is going to be reviewing the documents
we receive today, and we will not stop until we
get justice for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and all
those that were involved. Clearly, this issue is not going
away anytime soon, and it seems like a return to
(10:34):
what we saw over the summer, a drip, drip, drip
aspect to this story, in which a new element to
the story comes out almost every day in legal news.
On Monday, a federal appeals court upheld an eighty three
million dollar defamation award against President Trump. The Second US
Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that over five years, President
(10:58):
Trump never wavered or relented in his public attacks on
advice columnist E. Gene Carroll. He accused her of lying
and claiming her lawsuit was part of a conspiracy to
interfere with his election. This was a three judge panel
that rendered this decision, and now it will be up
(11:21):
to lawyers for Donald Trump in terms of how to
go about appealing this ruling. They can appeal to the
full Second Circuit Court of Appeals and have every judge
on that appellate court take a look at whether or
not this was the proper rendering of a decision in
this matter. Or they can appeal to the US Supreme Court,
(11:45):
and the US Supreme Court may not take this case.
And what I heard late in the day is that
the lawyers for Donald Trump will likely pursue that second option.
Rather than have the entire Second Circuit here this appeal,
they will appeal directly to the US Supreme Court. As
(12:06):
for Tuesday, some items have been added to the President's schedule. Initially,
when the schedule came out over the weekend, there were
no public events with the president. Now there are actually
a few. First of all, there's going to be a
White House Press briefing with Caroline Levitt, the White House
Press Secretary, at one pm Eastern time, and then four
pm Eastern time, the President will participate in a swearing
(12:31):
in ceremony for the US ambassador to Portugal, and then
at four point thirty the President will sign a proclamation.
That will be in the Oval Office and that will
be open press. I will be in the pool, so
I will have an opportunity to ask the President some
questions when we're in the Oval Office if the President
(12:53):
takes questions from reporters, I hope to ask the President
about his latest thinking about possibly sending those National Guards
troops to the city of Chicago. I also want to
get from the President his latest thoughts concerning the war
in Ukraine and trying to put pressure on Russian President
Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table. So that's
(13:17):
it for the White House Briefing Room for Tuesday, September
the ninth. I'm John Decker, have a good one.
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Tuesday, September
the ninth. I'm John Decker. President Trump threatens Chicago once again,
raising the possibility of deploying the National Guard to the
Windy City.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And we'd love to go into Chicago on straightened out.
Do you know Washington, d C. You'll be happy to
know is a free and safe zone. It's so safe.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Threatening Democratic House members release a screenshot of what appears
to be a letter to Jeffrey Epstein signed by President Trump.
And the President loses a bid in federal court to
overturn an eighty three million dollar defamation award. But we
begin with the President toying once again with the idea
(00:46):
of sending the National Guard to the streets of Chicago.
For weeks, President Trump has threatened Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson
and the Governor of Illinois JB. Pritzker, with the idea
of deploying the National Guard to Illinois, specifically to the
streets of Chicago. And the reason has to do with
(01:08):
the increasing amount of crime that Chicago has experienced over
the past few weeks. In fact, over the Labor Day holiday,
there were fifty eight shootings on the streets of Chicago,
eight murders all together. And despite this upticking crime, there
has been no effort, it seems, to tamp down the
(01:30):
amount of crime that's happening in Chicago, one of the
most populous cities in this country. Now, the President believes
he has a blueprint to bring down crime rates in
every American city, and that blueprint is what he has
done in the nation's capital, in Washington, d C. A
little less than a month ago, the President deployed National
(01:53):
Guard troops on the streets of Washington, d C. And
there has been a noticeable decrease crime crime of all sorts,
but particularly violent crime in the nation's capital. The President
touts this almost every day, the fact that crime has
declined so much in Washington, DC. And he believes that
(02:15):
he can do this in Chicago. He can do this
in Baltimore, and he can do this in New York
City as well. Those are three cities, in particular, by
the way, run by Democratic mayors that the President believes
that if the National Guard is deployed to those cities,
crime will come down in the same way it's come
down in the nation's capital. Now, the President on Monday
(02:39):
at an event at the Museum of the Bible, brought
up the city of Chicago, and brought up trying to
reach out to Illinoi's Governor JB. Pritzker, trying to convince
him that the National Guard can actually help the state
of Illinois and can help the city of Chicago. Let's
listen to what the President said Monday morning at the
(03:00):
Museum of the Bible.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You try and reason with people, like in Chicago with
the governor and the mayor. You try and reason with them,
and it's like you're talking to a wall. It's just
doesn't I assume it's just a political ideology. They're not stupid.
People must be an ideology that's just buried in the
head and you can't do a damn thing about it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Now, the model for the president is Washington, DC, and
the President really believes that his actions have had a
direct impact in terms of bringing down crime precipitously in
the nation's capital. Let's listen to what the President said
a few moments after that last sound But.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We are a safe city. You can walk to a restaurant,
you can walk to the White House if you work there.
You could walk to the Capitol and even the Democrats,
I can't believe it, but they don't want to admit it,
But I can't believe it. We could do the same
thing in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. We did it.
We saved ls A.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The President says his focus is simply trying to reach
out and help out cities like Chicago that have experienced
an increase in crime. But there's no doubt about the
fact that this effort is also a good political issue
for the President and for Republicans as they look ahead
(04:17):
to the mid term elections next year. There will be
many issues that will be on the ballot in twenty
twenty six, but the President believes that crime is an
issue that resonates with Americans of all stripes, Republicans, Democrats,
and independents. The President often asks reporters themselves if they
(04:41):
or someone they know have experienced violent crime. And the
fact is is that many people have indeed experienced crime
of some sort, whether it's personally a mugging or in
my case, I once had my vehicle stolen in Washington,
DC and I got it back thankfully, within twenty four hours.
(05:01):
But we've all experienced to a certain degree crime or
know someone who has, and that's the reason why the
President feels this is a winning issue for Republicans as
they look to hold on to both the House and
the Senate in twenty twenty six. In the past few days,
the President has toyed with the idea of deploying the
(05:23):
National Guard, specifically to Chicago. I don't know if the
President is going to greenlight that effort, but the President
on social media in other forums has indicated that he
will make a decision on this in the next few days.
And that's regardless of whether JB. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois,
(05:44):
invites the National Guard into his state. It's much easier
to deploy the National Guard in Washington, d C. It's
permitted under law under DC's charter. It's not so easy
legally to deploy the National Guard into a state that
doesn't want the National Guard, and that clearly is the
case for JB. Pritzker. Now once again, Jeffrey Epstein back
(06:07):
in the news. Even though the White House felt this
issue had gone away in mid August, Congress is now
back from its August recess, and now that Congress is back,
Democrats in particular, but some Republicans as well want to
refocus Congress's attention on Jeffrey Epstein. On Monday, lawyers for
(06:28):
Epstein's estate gave Congress a copy of a birthday book
that was put together for Epstein's fiftieth birthday, and included
in that birthday book, according to those who've seen it,
is a letter with President Trump's signature, and he says
that's not his signature. The House Oversight Committee members confirmed
(06:52):
that they received a copy of this book, including this
purported letter from President Trump and a second letter that
also references Donald Trump with a crew joke about a
woman from another Epstein associate. The Wall Street Journal in particular,
has been all over this particular story. They reported on
(07:14):
the book back in July. They reported on the letter
that they say bears Donald Trump's name back in July,
and it also, according to the Journal, contains typewritten text
framed by the outline of a naked woman. The letter concluded,
happy birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret,
(07:37):
and below that is a signature with the squiggly Donald
below the waist. President Trump has denied writing the letter
drawing that picture, and he calls it fake. In fact,
he has filed a ten billion dollar lawsuit against the
Wall Street Journal, its reporters, the journal's publisher, it's company,
(08:01):
its executives, including Rupert Murdoch, and he alleges in this
lawsuit that he has been defamed. He says the letter was,
in his words, non existent. A spokesperson for the journal,
a spokesperson for the company that publishes the journal, says
that we have full confidence in the rigor and the
(08:23):
accuracy of our reporting. There was a comment put out
in a paper statement by Caroline Leavitt, the White House
Press Secretary. She said in a social media post as
well that the President's legal team will continue to pursue
its defamation case against the Wall Street Journal. And she
(08:45):
said in this post on X as I have said
all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw
this picture and he did not sign it. Now, this
copy of this birthday book, which was released on Monday,
was all in response to a subpoena from Congressman James Comer.
(09:07):
He's a Republican from Kentucky. He's the chairman of the
House Oversight Committee, and he's a big defender generally of
President Trump. He's an ally of President Trump, and he
put out a statement on Monday in which he wrote,
its appalling Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are cherry
(09:27):
picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein estate today.
He also said the purpose of their investigation was to,
in his words, bring transparency and accountability for survivors of
Epstein's heinous crimes and the American people. He went on
(09:49):
to say that President Trump is not accused of any
wrongdoing and Democrats are ignoring the new information the committee
received today. There was also a response from one of
the top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Robert Garcia,
put out his own statement in which he said, mister President,
this is not a hoax. You are lying to the
(10:11):
American public. You are involved in a cover up. Now,
the Oversight Committee is going to be reviewing the documents
we receive today, and we will not stop until we
get justice for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and all
those that were involved. Clearly, this issue is not going
away anytime soon, and it seems like a return to
(10:34):
what we saw over the summer, a drip, drip, drip
aspect to this story, in which a new element to
the story comes out almost every day in legal news.
On Monday, a federal appeals court upheld an eighty three
million dollar defamation award against President Trump. The Second US
Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that over five years, President
(10:58):
Trump never wavered or relented in his public attacks on
advice columnist E. Gene Carroll. He accused her of lying
and claiming her lawsuit was part of a conspiracy to
interfere with his election. This was a three judge panel
that rendered this decision, and now it will be up
(11:21):
to lawyers for Donald Trump in terms of how to
go about appealing this ruling. They can appeal to the
full Second Circuit Court of Appeals and have every judge
on that appellate court take a look at whether or
not this was the proper rendering of a decision in
this matter. Or they can appeal to the US Supreme Court,
(11:45):
and the US Supreme Court may not take this case.
And what I heard late in the day is that
the lawyers for Donald Trump will likely pursue that second option.
Rather than have the entire Second Circuit here this appeal,
they will appeal directly to the US Supreme Court. As
(12:06):
for Tuesday, some items have been added to the President's schedule. Initially,
when the schedule came out over the weekend, there were
no public events with the president. Now there are actually
a few. First of all, there's going to be a
White House Press briefing with Caroline Levitt, the White House
Press Secretary, at one pm Eastern time, and then four
pm Eastern time, the President will participate in a swearing
(12:31):
in ceremony for the US ambassador to Portugal, and then
at four point thirty the President will sign a proclamation.
That will be in the Oval Office and that will
be open press. I will be in the pool, so
I will have an opportunity to ask the President some
questions when we're in the Oval Office if the President
(12:53):
takes questions from reporters, I hope to ask the President
about his latest thinking about possibly sending those National Guards
troops to the city of Chicago. I also want to
get from the President his latest thoughts concerning the war
in Ukraine and trying to put pressure on Russian President
Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table. So that's
(13:17):
it for the White House Briefing Room for Tuesday, September
the ninth. I'm John Decker, have a good one.
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