House Oversight Committee Democrats on Monday published an image of a 2003 birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein that MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell said appears to bear President Donald Trump's signature, prompting a sharp public dispute with the White House.
The typed note, created for Epstein's 50th birthday, was enclosed in a hand-drawn silhouette of a naked woman in which the signature appears to form pubic hair. The message reads in part, "enigmas never age" and includes the line "may every day be another wonderful secret." The White House disputed the identification of the handwriting; press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump "did not draw this picture" and asserted the image "PROVES" the letter is "FALSE."
O'Donnell, during his Monday broadcast, argued the signature on the birthday note resembles Trump's and criticized the White House for what he called an official denial of the signature's authenticity. "The Donald-signed letter to Jeffrey Epstein is no longer a 'wonderful secret,'" O'Donnell said, and he displayed a 2016 handwritten note he said he received from Trump as a comparison. O'Donnell described the two signatures as showing "all of the grand strokes are exactly the same," and invited viewers and handwriting experts to judge the likeness.
The image was released publicly after Oversight Committee Democrats successfully subpoenaed the Epstein estate for the so-called "birthday book" that contained the note. The Wall Street Journal first reported details of the note in July 2025, a report that prompted Vice President J.D. Vance to demand to see the image at the time; Democrats shared the image on social media Monday in response to that earlier request.
In his segment O'Donnell recounted receiving a handwritten note from Trump in January 2016 that he said was signed "Best wishes, Donald" and accompanied by a $10,000 check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation for charity. He said the 2016 note and the 2003 birthday message show "strikingly similar" signatures, though he deferred to professional handwriting analysts for a definitive determination.
Jeffrey Epstein, a financier who was later convicted of sex offenses, died in 2019. The 2003 note has drawn renewed attention because of Epstein's high-profile connections and the continuing public scrutiny of those relationships. Democrats on the Oversight Committee said the subpoena and release were intended to provide transparency about materials in the Epstein estate.
The White House response framed the letter as inauthentic, while O'Donnell and House Democrats presented the image and a comparative example to support questions about the note's origin. The dispute adds to ongoing political debate over public figures' relationships with Epstein and over the provenance of documents in his estate.
Lawmakers and outside experts may now weigh in; handwriting authentication and additional records obtained through the committee's subpoena could figure into further inquiries. The Office of the White House did not provide further public evidence beyond its statement disputing the note's authenticity, and President Trump did not immediately issue a separate public denial of authorship on Monday.