Copies of a handwritten note from Lord Peter Mandelson describing Jeffrey Epstein as “my best pal” have been released by Democrats in the House of Representatives after the documents were subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee.
The note appears in a so-called “birthday book” assembled by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former partner, and is dated 2003 — three years before public allegations of sex abuse against Epstein surfaced in 2006. Lord Mandelson, who has served as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States since 2021, wrote that Epstein was an “intelligent, sharp-witted man” who “parachuted” into his life and that he “would spend many hours just waiting for him to turn up.” The entry concludes, “But wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal! Happy Birthday, Jeffrey. We love you!” and includes a photograph of Mandelson with two women whose faces are obscured.
A spokesperson for Lord Mandelson said the former British cabinet minister “has long been clear that he very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein,” and pointed to Mandelson’s earlier comment to the Financial Times in which he said, “I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell.” The BBC reported the release of the letter and noted the existence of other materials released by lawmakers, including Epstein’s personal address book and his will.
The materials also contain a page featuring a drawing of a woman’s body that U.S. lawmakers say is allegedly signed by former President Donald Trump. The White House said the drawing and signature are not authentic, stating on Monday that the president “did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.”
Lawmakers released the documents after issuing subpoenas last month as part of oversight inquiries. The “birthday book” was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in July. After that report, Mr. Trump filed a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal’s reporters, publisher and executives, including News Corp’s owner Rupert Murdoch, seeking $10 billion in damages over the coverage of material tied to Epstein.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who assembled the book, was convicted in 2021 of conspiring to traffic girls for sex in connection with Epstein’s activities. Maxwell has said she compiled materials about Epstein’s contacts and social circle; the documents date from years before criminal investigations and public accusations of sexual abuse became widely known.
A 2019 internal JPMorgan report, filed in a New York court in 2023, previously described Epstein as keeping a “particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British government.” Epstein was first criminally charged in Florida in 2006 with solicitation of prostitution; he died in custody in 2019 while awaiting federal sex trafficking charges.
The release of the materials revives public scrutiny of Epstein’s social and political connections across the United States and the United Kingdom. U.S. lawmakers have increasingly used subpoena power in recent months to seek documents tied to Epstein and his associates as part of broader investigations into how such materials were handled and why they became public. The House Oversight Committee and the offices that released the documents did not immediately provide additional comment beyond the materials posted online.
Officials in the U.K. have been approached for comment on Lord Mandelson’s note. The documents released by Democrats in Congress remain subject to review as journalists and investigators analyze the provenance and context of the pages in the book and the broader trove of materials linked to Epstein and Maxwell.
Jeffrey Epstein’s encounters with the criminal justice system span more than a decade: his 2006 state-level prosecution in Florida ended with a non-prosecution agreement that has been widely criticized, and federal probes were underway at the time of his 2019 death in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The newly released pages add to a public record of Epstein’s ties to prominent figures, prompting renewed attention from lawmakers, media and legal analysts on both sides of the Atlantic.