Lewd birthday message Donald Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein released by Democrats | US News

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A lewd birthday message Donald Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein has been released by Democrats.

The US president has denied writing the letter or creating a hand-drawn outline of what appears to be a woman around the text.

The letter, bearing Mr Trump’s name and allegedly his signature, includes the words: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Pic: X/OversightDems
Image:
Pic: X/OversightDems

Mr Trump has called a report on the letter “false, malicious, and defamatory”.

“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,” Mr Trump said.

The letter was included as part of a 2003 album compiled for Epstein‘s birthday.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee received a copy of the birthday album on Monday as part of a batch of documents from the estate of convicted sex offender Epstein.

Mr Trump has already filed a $10bn (£7.3bn) lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for a report in July on the alleged letter.

After the letter was released on Monday, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich posted pictures on X of Trump’s signature and tagged The Wall Street Journal’s parent corporation, News Corp, writing: “Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it’s not his signature. DEFAMATION!”

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: “The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire ‘Birthday Card’ story is false.

“As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.”

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The letter’s disclosure comes amid a bipartisan demand in Congress for the release of the so-called Epstein files amid years of speculation and conspiracy theories.

Calls for the release of the records came from Republicans, including JD Vance before he was sworn in as vice-president.

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Questions amplified over Trump’s friendship with Epstein

Finally, we see the look of the evidence and it doesn’t look great for Donald Trump.

It had always been in doubt, as long as the fabled birthday book remained unpublished. There’s more certainty now.

Donald Trump had repeatedly denied all association, saying: “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.”

It will amplify questions surrounding Donald Trump’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and suggestions of improper behaviour.

The US president denies any wrongdoing.

In suing the publishers of the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s attorneys have argued that “no authentic letter or drawing exists”.

Expect arguments over authenticity to continue – forensic investigations, who knows, to establish the provenance of the picture signed “Donald”.

What isn’t in doubt is the traction it will lend to calls for a full release of the Epstein files.

The birthday book handed over to the Congressional committee had the names and faces of women and minors redacted.

The drawing and its publication is the hard piece of evidence that makes it even harder for the president to cry “hoax”.

And yet, he surely will. To admit the picture was drawn by his own hand would be to admit a lie that would bind him tighter still to the scandal that stalks him.

A first sight of the drawing is one development in this story but it’s not the only one.

Lawyers for the Epstein estate wrote in their covering letter to the committee that they are unaware of the existence of a “list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr Jeffrey Epstein”.

It is their word, for public consumption.

They’ll be aware, as they are in the White House, that on this story, the public would rather make up its own mind.

In June 2008 Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, pleaded guilty to Florida state charges of one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that said he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.

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