Congressional Democrats on Monday released an alleged birthday note they said Donald Trump sent to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, raising pressure on the US president over questions about his past interactions with the late financier, whom Trump once described as a former friend.

The release stems from the trove of documents received by the House Oversight Committee, including a birthday book compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. The papers, which haven’t been made public, are also said to include Epstein’s last will and testament, entries from his address and contact books from 1990 to 2019 and information about his known bank accounts.

A copy of the letter which was submitted to Congress. Source: House Oversight Committee Democrats/X

The committee is investigating Epstein’s criminal activities. Trump, 79, has been under fire from his base as well as Democrats for allegedly not facilitating the release of more documents associated with Epstein. Trump has denied composing the alleged birthday message and previously downplayed the significance of files associated with Epstein. (A Bloomberg investigation earlier revealed that an FBI team tasked with conducting a review of government records tied to Epstein blacked out Trump’s name and those of other prominent public figures.)

There was more bad news for Trump on Monday. A federal appeals court left intact the $83.3 million penalty against him in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit, rejecting his attempt to overturn the jury’s verdict. The court found the trial judge handled the case properly and that the damages were reasonable “in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts” of the lawsuit, which was filed after Carroll accused Trump of sexual assault. —David E. Rovella

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Mass protests over the weekend in Washington and Chicago saw thousands of demonstrators take to the streets to decry Trump’s militarization of the nation’s capital and his threats against Chicago. Trump has made false claims about rising violent crime in both cities while also targeting them for immigration raids.

On Monday, the Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed supermajority cleared the way at least temporarily for Trump’s use in Los Angeles of roving patrols of heavily armed agents in what’s been condemned by legal observers as illegal racial profiling. In a separate ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts let Trump oust a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission. In both rulings, no formal explanation was given.

Amazon has taken a stake in the Colombian delivery company Rappi, a strategic partnership that pairs the e-commerce giant’s retail and technology infrastructure with one of Latin America’s best-known last-mile delivery outfits.

Getting access to Rappi’s logistics network could help Amazon compete with regional e-commerce heavyweight MercadoLibre. For Rappi, the partnership brings an endorsement from North America’s biggest online retailer and opportunities to tap into its logistics and cloud-computing networks.

PNC Financial Services Group will fulfill its goals for expanding across Colorado with the planned takeover of FirstBank Holding, with the regional-banking giant focusing its branch-opening effort on other states instead. Regional banks are getting ripe for consolidation as the Trump administration appears to be warming to merger activity. Pittsburgh-based PNC agreed to buy FirstBank for about $4.1 billion to add $26.8 billion in assets and branches in Colorado and Arizona. Lakewood, Colorado-based FirstBank operates 95 branches and will make PNC the top lender in Denver by retail deposits. 

Argentina’s currency, bonds and stocks plunged after President Javier Milei’s party suffered a landslide defeat in a key provincial election, heightening concern his administration lacks the political support to continue his radical economic revamp.

The government’s dollar bonds posted the biggest declines in emerging markets on Monday, with benchmark notes due in 2035 slumping 5.3 cents on the dollar to 56 cents. Yields soared to just below 13%. Milei’s party fell well short of investor expectations in the province of Buenos Aires on Sunday, trailing the opposition by nearly 14 percentage points with 99% of ballots counted. 

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou lost a confidence motion in parliament, forcing a third change in government in just over a year and reviving uncertainty over how the country can tackle its mounting debt burden.

Parties across the political spectrum in France’s lower house joined forces Monday to overwhelmingly issue the rebuke to Bayrou, who called the motion in a failed attempt to rally support for his unpopular budget reforms. President Emmanuel Macron is to accept Bayrou’s resignation on Tuesday and name a new premier in the coming days.

The new government will still have to find a way to pass a budget, an exercise that has now toppled the last two prime ministers. France is “drowning in a tide of debt,” Bayrou told lawmakers ahead of the vote. “You have the power to bring down the government but you don’t have the power to erase reality.”

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