Trump calls Epstein birthday letter a ‘dead issue’ after president’s alleged lewd drawing revealed: Live updates

The House oversight comittee released Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday book on Monday, with dozens of tributes scrawled across its 238 pages.

“So many girls, so little time,” wrote one person in the “friends” section of the book, according to The New York Times.

Another associate compared him to the main character in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, but instead of fish, Epstein caught “blonde, red or brunette” women.

A friend called “Nick” described “howling with laughter” following a demeaning sexual encounter that a woman endured in the back of a car, according to the Times.

A person known only as “Lesie” sketched a pair of breasts, along with a note dated January 20, 2003: “I wanted to get you what you want… here it is.”

Another poem noted that somehow Epstein “has avoided the penitentiary.” Five years later, he would plead guilty in Florida to a state charge of soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl after securing a non-prosecution agreement from federal prosecutors.

Lord Mandelson features in a 50th birthday book for Epstein that was compiled by the late financier’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently in prison for her role in recruiting and trafficking minors for sex.

Eric Trump ran to the friendly confines of Newsmax on Monday night to offer up a laughable defense of the “bawdy” sketch that his father allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein for the convicted sex offender’s 50th birthday.

Justin Baragona has the story.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took a dig at Vice President JD Vance’s shifting stance on the Epstein files in a post on X.

Vance was once in favor of releasing documents relating to the investigation into the late sex offender but now calls the case a Democratic hoax.

Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, has called Donald Trump a “liar” after White House called a letter claimed to be from the president to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a “fake.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says he has not seen the Trump-Epstein note and drawing released by the Oversight Committee.

“I’ve heard about it. But no. And the White House says it’s not true,” he told reporters on Tuesday morning.

John Bowden writes about the aftermath of the release of a birthday letter claimed to be from President Donald Trump to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein:

On Monday, the White House’s explanation remained firm. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and other members of the Trump comms team declared that the signature on the letter was a forgery, though it bears impeccable resemblances to other signatures verifiably made by the president over the years, including during his time in the White House.

“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,” Leavitt wrote on X. “President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.”

Taylor Budowich, another White House official, added: “Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it’s not his signature!”

But there was no explanation for why the Epstein estate would have forged Trump’s signature — and [Ghislaine] Maxwell herself has already validated the authenticity of the book itself, though she told the Justice Department she couldn’t remember whether she’d solicited Trump for a note for the birthday book.

Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, has said the lewd birthday card claimed to be authored by President Donald Trump and gifted to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “doesn’t prove anything.”

Leaving the U.S. Capitol building Monday night, Massie, who is pushing to force a House vote to release documents related to Epstein, said, “It doesn’t prove anything,” per the Associated Press.

“Having a birthday card from Trump doesn’t help the survivors and the victims,” he added.

The White House has denied Trump authored or signed the card.