The House Oversight Committee on Monday released images from a 2003 "birthday book" compiled for Jeffrey Epstein that include a handwritten note from former President Bill Clinton praising Epstein's "childlike curiosity," a cartoon depicting the financier with young girls, and a photograph showing Epstein with a longtime Mar-a-Lago member and a crudely captioned check.
The single-paragraph message attributed to Clinton was published by the committee on the same day it disclosed other materials drawn from an album prepared by Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell for his 50th birthday. "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," the handwritten note reads, according to images released by the committee.
The binder, assembled in 2003, was reportedly scanned and bound by Maxwell and later turned over to the Oversight Committee after a congressional subpoena of Epstein's estate. The items were among materials the committee has been reviewing since receiving documents from the estate and from files Attorney General Pam Bondi provided to the panel. Bondi handed roughly 33,000 pages to the committee last month, portions of which were reviewed and released by the panel chaired by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., on Sept. 2.
Also released on Monday were a hand-drawn illustration showing a side-by-side depiction of Epstein offering balloons and candy to girls in an earlier era and of him later surrounded by topless women, and a photograph that includes a handwritten caption referring to selling a "fully depreciated" woman to Donald Trump for $22,500. The committee said those pages were provided to Democratic members by Epstein's estate and originated from Joel Pashcow, a person listed multiple times in what has been called Epstein's "little black book."
The woman named in the handwritten note said she had no prior knowledge of the caption and, through her lawyer, called the item "a disgusting and deeply disturbing hoax," according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal. Pashcow did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The release comes as Republicans and Democrats on the panel continue to scrutinize records tied to Epstein and Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in sex trafficking. Epstein, a financier who faced federal sex-trafficking charges, died in a federal jail in 2019 before he could stand trial.
The materials also included an item that the Wall Street Journal reported was a birthday message purported to be from Donald Trump that contained a risqué drawing and a phrase referencing a "wonderful secret." The White House on Monday pushed back on that report. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that the image "proves this entire 'Birthday Card' story is false" and that aides would continue to pursue litigation, repeating the administration's contention that the purported Trump signature is inauthentic. Trump has previously denied authorship of the message and filed a $10 billion defamation suit against the Journal.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the committee's ranking Democrat, disputed those denials. In a statement to the Journal and to committee reporters, Garcia said the disclosures undercut the president's assertions and called for the release of the full files. "Now we know that Donald Trump was lying and is doing everything he can to cover up the truth," Garcia said.
Comer and committee staff have said they are reviewing unredacted materials from the estate in the hope of identifying information not previously released publicly. Democrats on the panel have argued that only a small fraction of the pages provided by Bondi contained new material; committee Democrats said last month that roughly 3% of the 33,000 pages included information not previously public, and that most new details consisted of flight logs from U.S. Customs and Border Protection reflecting Epstein's private jet movements between 2000 and 2014.
Lawyers for Epstein's estate provided the panel with a letter saying they were not aware of an existing list of clients who participated in sex acts or sex trafficking facilitated by Epstein and that the original version of the widely referenced "Black Book" may be in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation following searches of Epstein's residences in 2019.
The disclosures have prompted renewed partisan debate over what the documents do and do not show about who associated with Epstein and what investigators uncovered. Trump has characterized the committee's efforts as politically motivated, posting last week on his social platform that Democrats "did nothing about Jeffrey Epstein while he was alive except befriend him, socialize with him, travel to his Island, and take his money!" He added that Democrats are now showing concern for Epstein's victims only for political reasons.
Committee Republicans have framed the review as an effort to make public records that government prosecutors and law enforcement previously redacted or withheld. Committee Democrats have called for broader transparency and for release of any remaining records that could shed light on alleged wrongdoing.
The images released Monday represent a narrow slice of the materials the Oversight Committee says it obtained under subpoena. Committee officials said further review and potential releases could follow as staff continue to examine files provided by the estate, by state and federal law enforcement and by other sources.