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July 23, 2025

The Daily Courant

Marvel’s Inflection Point, Phillips’ Auction Switcheroo, Epstein Crisis Comms

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon digest of Puck’s best new reporting.


First up today, Eriq Gardner digs into Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal over its story about a lewd birthday card, signed to Jeffrey Epstein, that the president swears he never wrote. While there’s plenty for Murdoch’s lawyers to chew on, Florida courts have been receptive to recent Trump-adjacent libel claims. In any event, will the discovery process put the president under oath about his history with the late sex offender?

Plus, below the fold: Ian Krietzberg enumerates the A.I.-related hurdles that could waylay Uber’s multi-hundred-million-dollar fantasy fleet of robotaxis. John Heilemann and Democratic comms guru Lis Smith analyze how Trump has fumbled the Epstein fallout. Marion Maneker dissects Phillips’ new fee structure and the auction house’s “priority bidding” system. Sarah Shapiro chats with La Ligne C.E.O. Molly Howard about the brand’s hybrid D.T.C.-wholesale business model. And exclusively for Inner Circle members, Julia Alexander peruses Netflix’s audience data for clues about their sports programming playbook. 

 

Meanwhile, on the pods: Matt Belloni is joined by The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Fritz on The Town to debate whether The Fantastic Four can salvage Marvel’s cinematic universe. On The Varsity, John Ourand rings up Sports Business Journal’s Bret McCormick to examine team owners’ shifting priorities. And on The Powers That Be, Julia Ioffe and Eriq foreshadow Trump’s legal endgame in his case against the Journal.


P.S.: In case you missed it, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Rep. Angie Craig convened for Puck’s latest Power Breakfast in D.C. last week, presented by the Modern Ag Alliance. You can listen to their wide-ranging conversation here, or read some of the highlights here.

MEDIA

Eriq Gardner Eriq Gardner
Murdoch’s Trump-Epstein Game Theory

Murdoch’s Trump-Epstein Game Theory

The president’s attorneys could seize on the mogul’s advanced age for expedited examination of his dealing with Wall Street Journal executives. For their part, the defendants might welcome discovery—especially if it involves Epstein-related D.O.J. files.

 

Read Now

A.I.

Ian Krietzberg Ian Krietzberg
Robotaxi Cab Confessions

Robotaxi Cab Confessions

A new multi-hundred-million-dollar partnership between Uber, Lucid, and Nuro aims to deploy some 20,000 self-driving robotaxis across the U.S. over the next six years. But with a slate of complex technological hurdles and attendant safety challenges, can self-driving vehicles actually replace human drives at scale in the near term?

 

Read Now

WASHINGTON

John Heilemann John Heilemann
Crisis Comms: Epstein Edition

Crisis Comms: Epstein Edition

A conversation with the legendary Dem operative Lis Smith about how Trump is bungling the Epstein messaging, plus the Democrats’ opportunity with dude voters.

 

Read Now

ART

Marion Maneker Marion Maneker
The Phillips Fee Screwdriver

The Phillips Fee Screwdriver

As auction houses look to regain their mojo by tweaking pricing and structures, Phillips has announced a true potential game-changer—a triple whammy that increases the buyer’s premium, offers a discount to early bidders, and previews intent. So… will it work?

 

Read Now

FASHION

Sarah Shapiro Sarah Shapiro
The Right Stripes

The Right Stripes

A wide-ranging conversation with La Ligne’s Molly Howard about how she and her partners turned the French girl aesthetic into a legit business.

 

Read Now

SPORTS

Julia Alexander Julia Alexander
Netflix’s Sports Scorecard
Inner Circle Exclusive

Netflix’s Sports Scorecard

With two full years of Netflix audience data, we now have a clear sense of how its series perform. So what’s still working, and what absolutely isn’t? And when it comes to sports, is it better to be “adjacent” or in on the action?

 

Read Now

HOLLYWOOD

Matthew Belloni Matthew Belloni
The Town with Matt Belloni

Fantastic Four Pressure, Marvel’s Next Steps & Kevin Feige’s Future

Matt is joined by Wall Street Journal entertainment reporter Ben Fritz to discuss the pressure on The Fantastic Four: First Steps to succeed as the MCU enters its next era. They cover some of the changes Marvel has made to combat superhero fatigue, Kevin Feige’s future, and whether Marvel or DC is better positioned to win the rest of the decade.

 

Listen Now

SPORTS

John Ourand John Ourand
The Varsity with John Ourand

The Dark Art of Stadium Financing

Sports Business Journal’s Bret McCormick joins John to chart the shifting priorities in sports ownership, from media rights deals to real estate development. They explore how organizations across professional leagues are leveraging real estate for steady income, unpack the myriad challenges of financing new stadiums, predict whether the Washington Commanders will return to R.F.K. Stadium, and much more.

 

Listen Now

MEDIA

Julia Ioffe Julia Ioffe
Eriq Gardner Eriq Gardner
The Powers that Be Daily, Starring Peter Hamby

Trump’s $10B War Against the Journal

Eriq Gardner joins guest host Julia Ioffe to unpack Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its story about a lewd birthday card he allegedly doodled for Jeffrey Epstein, which he vehemently denies creating. Eriq explains why this lawsuit is notably flimsy—and why Trump may be aiming for a settlement rather than a public reckoning.

 

Listen Now

Puck
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