The House Oversight Committee received a slew of documents from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, including the 2003 “Birthday Book” that included a sexually suggestive note purported to be from President Donald Trump.
The committee received the first set of documents on Monday in response to Chairman James Comer’s (R-KY) subpoena from Aug. 25. The so-called birthday book was compiled by Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell for his 50th birthday.
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The documents also included the last will and testament of Epstein, bank account information, the 2007 nonprosecution agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and Epstein, and entries from Epstein’s address and contact books from Jan. 1, 1990, through Aug. 10, 2019. The committee posted the documents just hours later.
Prior to the committee releasing the documents, House Oversight Democrats posted the image on social media.
The documents include the letter signed by Trump that the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year. The president denied any involvement with the letter. White House deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel Taylor Budowich responded to a post of the image on X, claiming, “It’s not his signature.”
Trump and Epstein were friends for years and had been photographed together at social events. But they had a falling out about 20 years ago, before Epstein was convicted of sex offenses. Trump has not been accused by Epstein’s sexual abuse survivors of illegal activity.
The “birthday book” includes the birthday card purportedly from Trump, along with a picture of Epstein holding a check that appears to be signed by Trump, with a note that reads “sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.” The White House has consistently denied the president’s involvement in anything related to the birthday book.
“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,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X, referencing the original Wall Street Journal story on Trump’s card.
Democrats have targeted both images on social media, accusing the president of involvement. Comer snapped back at the minority on his committee for posting images of the documents before they were released.
“It’s appalling Democrats on the Oversight Committee are cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein Estate today,” Comer said in a statement. “Oversight Committee Republicans are focused on running a thorough investigation to bring transparency and accountability for survivors of Epstein’s heinous crimes and the American people.”
“President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing, and Democrats are ignoring the new information the Committee received today. The Committee will pursue additional Epstein bank records based on this new information. Democrats must decide if their priority is justice for the survivors or politics,” he continued.
Former President Bill Clinton also appears in the book to have written a birthday note to the late sex offender. Clinton is also mentioned again in a note written by another of Epstein’s “friends” referring to a Vanity Unfair article.
In his note, Clinton described Epstein as having “childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference, and the [illegible] of friends.”
The documents also included an address book kept by the sex offender, though the so-called black book numbers were released previously through court files and Business Insider, but now are officially part of the congressional record. While a person’s appearance in the address book does not indicate wrongdoing, key names listed in the address book include Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, as well as his late ex-wife, Ivana Trump. The record also includes Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, who is running in the New York City mayoral race, and the late former Sen. Edward Kennedy.
The estate’s lawyer said executors would cooperate with the congressional investigation.
“As the Co-Executors have always said, they will comply with all lawful process in this matter, and that includes the subpoena issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,” the co-executor’s lawyer, Daniel Weiner, told the Washington Examiner.
“As part of the Estate’s compliance with that subpoena, the Co-Executors have arranged to produce documents, records, and other materials to the Committee on an agreed-on schedule, commencing today as requested by the Committee,” he said.
The batch of documents came after Comer widened the investigation into Epstein, as the issue has heated up since July. Trump, House GOP leadership, and the Justice Department have sought to move past the Epstein files following public fallout from when the department announced after the July 4 weekend that it had no plans to make any further documents available and affirmed that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges related to the sex trafficking of minors.
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The committee issued 10 subpoenas for depositions, including the Clintons, from August through October. The other eight subpoenaed are former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller and former Attorneys General Merrick Garland, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions, Alberto Gonzales, Loretta Lynch, and Eric Holder, though not all were asked to show up in person.
Last week, the House Oversight Committee released 33,000 pages of DOJ files on Epstein, just after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced his discharge petition to try to force a vote for a full release of the Epstein files. The discharge petition must reach 218 signatures to force a vote on his bill.
