The 2003 birthday book also includes a letter that references Trump with a crude joke about a woman from another Epstein associate
By Khadeeja Safdar and Joe PalazzoloUpdated Sept. 8, 2025 4:22 pm ET
An image of the letter bearing Trump’s signature, which has been turned over to Congress by the Epstein estate.
Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s estate have given Congress a copy of the birthday book put together for the financier’s 50th birthday, which includes a letter with Trump’s signature that he has said doesn’t exist.
On Monday, House Oversight Committee members confirmed that they received a copy of the birthday book including the letter bearing Trump’s signature and a letter that references Trump with a crude joke about a woman from another Epstein associate.
“President Trump called the Epstein investigation a hoax and claimed that his birthday note didn’t exist. Now we know that Donald Trump was lying and is doing everything he can to cover up the truth,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D., Calif.), who is the committee’s Democratic ranking member. “Enough of the games and lies, release the full files now.”
The Wall Street Journal in July reported on the book and the letter bearing Trump’s name, which contained typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman. The letter concluded: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The signature was a squiggly “Donald” below the waist, mimicking pubic hair.
Trump has denied writing the letter or drawing the picture, calling it “a fake thing.” He also filed a lawsuit against the Journal’s reporters, Journal publisher Dow Jones, parent company News Corp and executives, alleging defamation and saying the letter was “nonexistent.” A Dow Jones spokeswoman said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting.”
Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 1997. Photo: Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, didn’t immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.
The Trump administration’s shifting statements about whether it would release the files it has on Epstein has hung over the White House for months. On Sept. 3, Trump called efforts to make public more details about Epstein a politically driven hoax, just as some of the convicted sex offender’s victims visited Capitol Hill to tell their stories of sexual abuse and implored the president and Congress to release further records.
Allies of Trump have long sought release of Epstein-related materials, but the Justice Department said in July that there isn’t a client list of people who participated in Epstein’s trafficking of young girls, and new files wouldn’t be released. That determination triggered an uproar among some of Trump’s prominent supporters and efforts in Congress to seek the records.
Lawyers for the co-executors of Epstein’s estate turned over a copy of the birthday book on Monday in response to a subpoena from Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the chair of the House Oversight Committee. In a July 25 letter to the Epstein estate’s lawyers, Rep. Garcia and Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) had pressed the estate to release the book “to assist in bringing transparency and accountability.”
The birthday book given to Epstein in 2003—before his first arrest in 2006—was professionally bound and contained letters from dozens of Epstein’s then associates, including Trump, former President Bill Clinton and billionaire Leon Black, the Journal has reported. Some of the messages were anodyne birthday wishes, but others contained sexual references and suggestive drawings or photos.
The Epstein estate also turned over another letter from the book that references Trump. It came from businessman and longtime Mar-a-Lago member Joel Pashcow, who made a crude joke about a woman that Trump and Epstein socialized with in the 1990s, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Pashcow letter included a photo of a posterboard-sized check for $22,500, which had been mocked up to appear that it was sent from Trump to Epstein. Beneath it, a handwritten caption said: “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.” The woman’s name is redacted in the image.
An image of another birthday letter to Epstein, which has been turned over to Congress by the Epstein estate.
Pashcow and his attorney didn’t respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for the woman said she doesn’t know Pashcow and has no knowledge of the letter naming her, which he called a “disgusting and deeply disturbing hoax.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter.
Trump was listed under the “Friends” section in the book’s table of contents, along with Clinton and about 20 other associates, the Journal reported. Trump and Epstein socialized in the 1990s in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet, flight logs show. Epstein was photographed multiple times at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
When Epstein was arrested a second time in 2019, Trump said he hadn’t talked to Epstein in about 15 years. This summer, he told reporters that he had a falling out with Epstein because his wealthy neighbor poached some employees from the Mar-a-Lago club.
Some of the people who assisted Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell on the birthday book project more than 20 years ago recalled seeing the Trump page among the documents they were compiling back then, the Journal reported.
Maxwell recently told Justice Department officials she assembled a book for Epstein’s 50th birthday but didn’t remember any names of people who made contributions to the album.
The Justice Department informed Trump in May that his name appeared several times in the government files related to Epstein, the Journal reported. Many other high-profile figures also were named, Trump was told. Being mentioned in the files isn’t an indication of wrongdoing. The White House called the story “fake news.”
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White House statement:
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Trump's real signature:
