The House Oversight Committee on Monday released images and excerpts from a 2003 "birthday book" assembled for Jeffrey Epstein, including a handwritten note from former President Bill Clinton praising Epstein's "childlike curiosity" and an illustration showing Epstein approaching young girls, according to materials posted by the committee.
The package, produced by the Epstein estate in response to a Congressional subpoena, also included items that the estate and committee said were submitted to the binder by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate who collected messages and materials for his 50th birthday. The release came after the committee this month published thousands of pages of records it obtained from the estate and other sources.
In the single-paragraph message dated to the 2003 book and written in Clinton's hand, the former president wrote: "It's reassuring isn't it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and [illegible word], and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends," according to the committee release. The committee also released an illustration by an unidentified cartoonist that juxtaposes an image of a young Epstein offering balloons and candy to children in 1983 with an image of Epstein in 2003 surrounded by topless women, the materials show.
Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has overseen the publication of materials from the estate as part of the panel’s wider review of Epstein-related records. Comer’s office released additional pages and photos on Monday, saying the materials were turned over by the estate in response to a congressional subpoena.
The binder has been reported to contain messages and contributions from a range of people who were asked by Maxwell to submit "drawings, photos, or stories" for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Maxwell, who has been convicted on charges related to Epstein’s trafficking network and is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence, assembled and gave the album to Epstein, according to long-reported descriptions of the book.
Among the items made public Monday were pages that the committee and estate said contain what one published report identified as a birthday message purportedly from then-businessman Donald Trump. The message includes a handwritten line reading, in part, "Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret," and a drawing some outlets attributed to Trump. The Wall Street Journal first published reporting about the alleged Trump contribution; Mr. Trump and White House aides have rejected the authenticity of that item and threatened legal action.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the birthday-book items were false and called reporting about them "fake news." In a post on the social platform X, and in statements circulated by White House aides, Leavitt said the president "did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it," and that his legal team would pursue litigation. Trump has previously filed a $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal over reporting about the book.
Comer released a portion of a letter from lawyers for Epstein’s estate that said the estate is not aware of any list of clients involved in sex acts or trafficking and that it does not possess the original "Black Book" many investigators have sought. The estate’s lawyers said the original book may have been seized by the FBI during 2019 searches of Epstein residences and that the origin of handwritten notes in copies provided to the committee is unknown.
The Oversight panel previously published tens of thousands of pages it said it received from the estate and from the office of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who last month provided roughly 33,000 pages of materials to the committee. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the committee’s ranking member, criticized the White House response and said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that Mr. Trump "was lying and is doing everything he can to cover up the truth," urging release of the full files.
Democrats on the panel have said that only a small fraction of the documents recently turned over contained new information beyond what Bondi’s office had previously provided; much of the newly public material consisted of Customs and Border Protection flight logs showing Epstein’s private jet movements between 2000 and 2014, they said.
Also released Monday was a photograph and handwritten note that the committee and the estate said shows Epstein with a longtime Mar-a-Lago member and an oversized check, accompanied by a caption joking about "selling a 'fully depreciated' woman to Donald Trump for $22,500." The note was attributed by committee materials to Joel Pashcow, whose name appears in Epstein’s contacts. The woman named in the note, whose name the committee redacted in its public file, told The Wall Street Journal through a lawyer that she had no prior knowledge of the entry and called it a "disgusting and deeply disturbing hoax." Pashcow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jeffrey Epstein was awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors when he died in a New York jail cell in August 2019; authorities ruled his death a suicide. Maxwell’s conviction and sentence followed separate criminal prosecutions that identified her role in facilitating Epstein’s abuse.
The Oversight Committee’s release of the materials comes amid ongoing debate in Congress and among the public over the breadth of Epstein’s network and whether government authorities adequately investigated his associates. Comer and other Republicans on the panel say publishing the materials is part of oversight into possible failures by officials to fully investigate those connections. Democrats on the committee have said the releases have at times been selective and have criticized the process used to publish and promote the materials.
Legal teams for several public figures mentioned in the documents have mounted efforts to discredit particular items as inauthentic. The committee release did not include independent verification of the provenance of every handwritten note or drawing, and the estate’s letter acknowledged gaps in its possession of original records. Lawmakers on both sides have continued to press for fuller access to records they say could illuminate who knew what about Epstein and when.
The Oversight Committee said it will continue to review material it receives and may publish additional pages. The release adds to a trove of documents and images that have kept Epstein’s network and its ties to prominent individuals under renewed scrutiny in Washington and beyond.