The White House on Tuesday declined to say whether President Donald Trump would meet with victims of Jeffrey Epstein and accused Democrats of using those victims to score political points after a note from a 2005 birthday book was made public.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the authenticity of a photograph of a handwritten message that Democrats released from documents the Epstein estate submitted to Congress. Leavitt said the president "did not write that letter, he did not sign those documents," and that he "maintains that position." She accused Democrats of deploying victims to "smear and push a hoax against the president of the United States."
The documents released by the Epstein estate to Congress included a book of birthday letters and notes from 2005 marking Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee published a photograph of a page that they said contained a note to Epstein bearing a signature that appeared to be the president's and a drawing of a curvaceous woman around the text.
Leavitt said Republican appointees at the Justice Department under Mr. Trump have shown greater transparency in the Epstein matter than prior administrations and accused specific lawmakers, including Rep. Ro Khanna, of pursuing the files for partisan reasons. She told reporters that some Democrats had not pressed for the release of Epstein-related records when President Joe Biden was in office.
Nearly a dozen people who said they were victims of Epstein's abuse spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference earlier this month and called for the files to be released. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene urged the president to meet with the victims in the Oval Office; Leavitt declined to confirm whether such a meeting would take place, saying she had "no meetings to reveal to the press."
A White House official later told the Daily Mail that the administration had arrested about 1,900 child predators and identified roughly 2,500 children while locating about 2,200 victims since Mr. Trump took office. The figures were presented by the official as evidence of the administration's record on crimes against children.
Another image from the birthday book circulated Monday, showing Epstein holding an oversized check accompanied by a handwritten gag referring to a "fully depreciated" woman; the check was signed "DJ Trump" in the photograph. Leavitt dismissed the signature on that image as dissimilar to the president's known handwriting and said he did not recognize the woman referenced in the note.
Mr. Trump has denied sending the birthday note and declined to comment at length. In an interview with NBC News, he called the matter a "dead issue," saying, "I don't comment on something that's a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. It's a dead issue."
Democrats who released the material say the documents merit further investigation and broader public disclosure. Republicans and the White House contend the released items include forgeries and that the timing of the disclosures is motivated by politics. The debate over the documents adds to continuing scrutiny of Epstein-related materials Congress has sought from his estate and others while survivors press for access to records and accountability.