Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have revealed a “birthday book” made for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, which many people were looking forward to. A subpoena to Epstein’s estate got the book, which has a letter with a hand-drawn outline of a woman’s torso and a signature at the bottom that says “Donald J Trump.” The release has brought back up the public debate about the President’s former ties with the convicted sex offender.
The note, which is said to be a collection of birthday wishes from Epstein’s friends, has a few lines of text inscribed inside the drawing. It says, “A friend is a wonderful thing—Happy Birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The signature is at the end.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, quickly said that the message was not real and went on X to call it “false.” She said, “It’s very clear that President Trump did not draw this picture and did not sign it, as I have said all along.” President Trump’s lawyers will keep going after lawsuits with all their might. Leavitt called the reporter who broke the story “Fake News” and said they were trying to “perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax.” Trump has said before that he didn’t write the memo or draw the picture. He called the first article on the topic “false, malicious, and defamatory” and sued The Wall Street Journal.
But a lot of people on social media and elsewhere don’t believe what the White House is saying. Many people have looked at the note’s signature and compared it to other samples of Trump’s handwriting, and they all agree that it looks a lot like it. “Yeah, even people who support Trump know that’s his signature,” said one person online. Some handwriting specialists and other critics have said that the unique “D” and the general jagged, heavy style are similar to his known signature.
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, talked on how important it was that the paper was made public. He stated in a statement, “The oversight committee has gotten the famous ‘Birthday Book,’ which has a note from President Trump that he says doesn’t exist.” The president ought to tell us the truth about what he knew and let us see all the Epstein files.
The book’s release comes at a time when both parties are pushing for the government to make all of its papers relating to the Epstein case public. The book is said to contain sexually explicit stuff and notes from other well-known people. The White House is getting ready for a court battle, but the public argument over whether the memo is real and what kind of relationship the two men had is likely to go on.