Epstein property offers Congress ‘birthday e-book’ allegedly signed by Trump : NPR

The property of Jeffrey Epstein has supplied the Home Oversight Committee with a duplicate of the birthday e-book ready as a present for the disgraced financier on his fiftieth birthday — an album that features a tawdry picture that seems to have been signed by President Trump, though Trump had beforehand dismissed it as “faux.”

Members of the oversight panel confirmed Monday that that they had acquired the 2003 birthday e-book, which was compiled for Epstein by his former affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell. The e-book was amongst a set of information launched by the committee as a part of its investigation of the federal government’s dealing with of the Epstein case.

“We bought Trump’s birthday observe to Jeffrey Epstein that the President mentioned would not exist,” Democrats on the Oversight Committee mentioned in a submit on social media. “Trump talks a few ‘fantastic secret’ the 2 of them shared. What’s he hiding? Launch the recordsdata!”

The existence of the birthday e-book was first disclosed in July by The Wall Avenue Journal, which reported that Trump’s signature seems on a web page within the e-book that featured a number of traces of typewritten textual content, framed by the define of a unadorned girl. The Journal described Trump’s signature as “a squiggly ‘Donald’ beneath her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”

On the time, Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the image, telling the Journal, “This isn’t me. This can be a faux factor. It is a faux Wall Avenue Journal story.”

The White Home doubled down on that denial on Monday, calling the discharge “FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!” 

“As I’ve mentioned all alongside, it’s totally clear President Trump didn’t draw this image, and he didn’t signal it. President Trump’s authorized workforce will proceed to aggressively pursue litigation,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in an announcement posted to social media. 

Democrats have sought to highlight Trump’s previous friendship with Epstein — although Trump has repeatedly mentioned their relationship ended earlier than Epstein was indicted for soliciting prostitution in 2006.

Republicans on the Oversight Committee criticized Democrats for “cherry-picking paperwork and politicizing info” that the panel acquired from Epstein’s property.

“President Trump is just not accused of any wrongdoing and Democrats are ignoring the brand new info the Committee acquired right now,” mentioned Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., in an announcement. He continued, “Democrats should resolve if their precedence is justice for the survivors or politics.”

The e-book was amongst a set of paperwork submitted to the committee in response to a subpoena issued in August. It was launched by the committee, with redactions, alongside a duplicate of Epstein’s final will and testomony, entries from his tackle e-book and a 2007 non-prosecution settlement between Epstein and the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of Florida.

The committee mentioned it had additionally obtained details about Epstein’s financial institution accounts and would pursue the financial institution information.

The discharge comes as Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., proceed to press GOP leaders to power the Trump administration to launch all recordsdata associated to federal investigations into Epstein. The pair is working to safe the 218 signatures essential to power a vote on the difficulty on the Home ground.