ISTANBUL
The Oversight Committee of the US House of Representatives on Monday obtained a series of documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, including a so-called “birthday book” that allegedly contains a 2003 letter from President Donald Trump.
"HERE IT IS: We got Trump's birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein that the President said doesn't exist," the House Oversight Committee's Democratic minority wrote on US social media company X, posting an image of the alleged letter, written within a doodle of what appears to be a naked woman's body signed "Donald."
"Trump talks about a 'wonderful secret' the two of them shared. What is he hiding? Release the files!" said the post on the documents, received in response to a late-August subpoena as part of its probe into Epstein.
Congressman Robert Garcia, leader of Oversight Democrats, announced that they received "the Epstein birthday book and additional documents from the Epstein estate," suggesting more information would be forthcoming.
The revelation comes amid ongoing bipartisan congressional efforts to force the release of all federal documents related to Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges.
Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna introduced a bill requiring the Justice Department to release the documents, and filed a discharge petition to force a House vote on transparency.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich said the image should bolster Trump's ongoing lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal newspaper, which first reported on the card's existence.
"Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it’s not his signature. DEFAMATION!" Budowich wrote on American social media platform X, referring to the Journal's parent company, News Corp.
Budowich posted photos of the president's signature from his first and second terms in office that do not match the signature on the card, though they would have been 21 years removed from the time the card was written.
The Journal separately published an analysis of the letter saying both the signature and font used in the letter response that seen in a 2006 thank you letter sent by Trump to American attorney George Conway and a letter Trump sent to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2000.
It also delves into Trump's history of crafting line drawings, Trump's pattern of referring to himself in the third person, and the similarities of the language used in the letter compared to the president's public remarks.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the Journal's report "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," she said. "This is fake news to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!"
*Michael Hernandez contributed to this report from Washington