The House Oversight Committee on Monday released a redacted copy of a “birthday book” that financier Jeffrey Epstein received for his 50th birthday in 2003, revealing a hand-drawn image and numerous crude notes that appear to reference sex with young girls.
The more than 230-page book contains letters, jokes and drawings, including a colorful, multi-panel illustration that appears to depict Epstein offering balloons and a lollipop to three young girls in 1983 and, in a separate panel labeled 2003, an older Epstein reclining while four blonde women massage him. One of the women is shown on her knees in a pose that appears to depict a sexual act and has a tattoo on her buttocks with Epstein’s initials inside a heart. A small jet, identified in the drawing by commentators as Epstein’s plane, can be seen in the background. The bottom of the image carries the caption, “What a great country!” The author of the drawing has not been identified in the release.
The release follows reporting by The Wall Street Journal in July that highlighted a scribbled note allegedly from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to Epstein in 2003. The note, included among the pages made public Monday in redacted form, features the outline of a nude woman and references a “wonderful secret” the two men allegedly shared. The White House and Trump’s representatives have denied that Trump wrote the note, saying the handwriting and signature are forgeries. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, “As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it,” and added the administration will “continue to aggressively pursue litigation.”
Other material in the book includes crude sexual jokes and handwritten captions that reference selling a woman to Trump for a sum described as $22,500, alongside a photograph of Epstein with longtime Mar-a-Lago member Joel Pashcow holding a large fake check bearing Trump’s name. Several pages were redacted in the committee’s public release.
Committee officials released the book as part of ongoing oversight work that has sought to compile documents related to Epstein and his associates. The publications made public do not include investigative findings or new criminal charges; the materials consist largely of contributions and notes submitted to Epstein for the birthday compilation.
The images and messages in the book add to a public record of communications and social exchanges surrounding Epstein before his 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges and his subsequent death in custody. The author of the drawing and the identities of many who contributed to the book were obscured by redactions, and the committee did not provide new evidence establishing the provenance of specific entries.
The release prompted renewed media attention on the social networks and correspondences surrounding Epstein. Legal and political debates over responsibility for, and authorship of, specific notes in the book are likely to continue as interested parties examine the redacted pages and seek to authenticate disputed handwriting and images.