A 2003 birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, included a letter bearing Donald Trump’s name, according to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
The album’s contents were collected by Ghislaine Maxwell, the former Epstein associate who is currently in federal prison. The letter was “among the documents examined by Justice Department officials who investigated Epstein and Maxwell years ago, according to people who have reviewed the pages.”
As for the letter’s contents, “it contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman,” the Journal reports. “A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”
The letter ends with the signoff: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
It was not clear whether the letter was part of the Trump administration’s review earlier this year of documents related to the Epstein case.
MSNBC has not independently verified the document. Trump denied he wrote it in an interview with the Journal prior to publication. “This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” he said. “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” The president, who has sued numerous media outlets over the years, threatened the paper with legal action. “I’m gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else,” he said.
A post on Trump’s TruthSocial account Thursday evening said that the president “warned” the Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch not to run the story. “Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so,” the post continued. “President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly.”
In a subsequent post, Trump wrote, “Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said releasing only grand jury testimony would be insufficient. “Just release all of the documents,” he told MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez, “and the only thing that needs to be left out are the names and identities of the victims.” In 2002, a year before the birthday card, Trump told New York magazine, “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” When Epstein was arrested on sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges in 2019, Trump said the two had had a falling out and had not spoken in approximately 15 years. It was not clear whether the letter was part of the Trump administration’s review earlier this year of documents related to the Epstein case. As a presidential candidate, Trump promised to release more documents. But after Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department released a memo earlier this month concluding that Epstein died by suicide in jail, the president defended Bondi from criticism for not releasing further files. This week, Trump alleged that “these files were made up by” former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and former FBI director James Comey On Wednesday, the president said that the issue was a “SCAM” and that his “PAST supporters” who were calling for the release of documents were “weaklings” and ““I don’t want their support anymore!” The same day, the Justice Department fired Maurene Comey, James Comey’s daughter and one of the prosecutors in the cases against Epstein and Maxwell.
James Downie is an opinion editor for MS NOW Daily.
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