The White House on Tuesday forcefully denied that former President Donald Trump wrote or signed a sexually suggestive birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein or an oversized novelty check shown in newly released estate materials, while stopping short of labeling the documents themselves forgeries.
"The President did not write this letter. He didn’t sign this letter," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing. She said the administration would be open to a handwriting expert comparing the 2003 letter and the President’s handwriting at the time, but declined to call the files a hoax. "I did not say the documents are a hoax. I said the entire narrative surrounding Jeffrey Epstein right now that is absorbing many of the liberal cable channels is a hoax. It is a distraction," she said.
The materials were released Monday night by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee and include a 238-page birthday album for Epstein and a redacted photograph showing him holding an oversized check apparently signed "DJTRUMP." A caption beneath the photo, partially redacted, reads: "Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500." Committee Democrats had earlier, hours before the Republican posting, released a copy of the birthday-book letter that appears to be signed "Donald" and ends: "Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret," followed by what Democratic members say resembles the former president’s signature.
The documents were produced to the committee by lawyers for Epstein’s estate in response to a subpoena seeking financial records, contact books and correspondence. The release has reignited scrutiny of a social relationship that the former president has long sought to minimize. Trump and Epstein were seen together in Palm Beach and New York social circles in the 1980s and 1990s before their reported falling-out in the early 2000s. Trump has previously said he barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for allegedly recruiting spa employees, including Virginia Giuffre, who later became one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers.
Democrats in the committee seized on the birthday note as evidence that Trump has not been forthright about the extent of his ties to Epstein. Trump has denied writing the birthday note and sued The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the letter, for defamation. The White House circulated samples of Trump’s signature in recent days, with communications staffer Taylor Budowich sharing examples to argue that the handwriting in the birthday book differs from Trump's known signature.
Republican leaders on the panel have sought to tamp down the disclosures. Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer of Kentucky accused Democrats of "cherry-picking" from the files. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a libertarian Republican leading a bipartisan effort to push the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related records, described the birthday book as immaterial to survivors' claims, saying, "It doesn’t prove anything. Having a birthday card from Trump doesn’t help the survivors and the victims." Massie has urged full transparency of the Justice Department's files on Epstein.
When asked whether the president planned to meet with Epstein’s victims, Leavitt said, "I don’t have any meetings for you to read out on that," and accused Democrats of "pretending to care about victims of crime" while pursuing what she called a smear campaign.
The dispute over the estate materials has further split Congress along partisan lines and revived public debate over the scope of Epstein’s social circle. Legal and political analysts note that the documents, as released, are part of a larger set of estate records whose provenance and context have been the subject of competing claims. For his part, Trump has repeatedly dismissed reporting about the materials as politically motivated, calling coverage of the matter a "hoax" in prior public statements.
The committee’s release has prompted calls from some members for further investigation and greater transparency about the full trove of estate records, while others emphasize that documents such as a birthday album or a signed photograph alone do not establish criminal conduct. The White House’s willingness to consider a handwriting analysis signals an openness to further forensic review even as officials characterize much of the renewed focus on Epstein as politically driven.