House Democrats share screenshot of apparent Trump birthday note to Epstein

House Democrats on Monday shared a screenshot showing what appears to be a letter signed by Donald Trump, the very same letter Trump had denied writing after reports of its existence were published in the Wall Street Journal.

The letter was included in a set of birthday notes sent to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003.

The note depicts a conversation between Trump and Epstein inside the sketch of a woman’s torso. Trump’s signature appears just below the drawing’s hips in the pubic region.

“HERE IT IS: We got Trump’s birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein that the President said doesn’t exist,” the House oversight committee’s Democratic minority wrote on social media when releasing the image.

The screenshot mirrors the description published by the Wall Street Journal back in July, which first revealed the existence of the “bawdy” letter.

According to the Journal’s reporting, the book and letter carried Trump’s name, with typewritten text framed by the outline of a nude woman. It ended with the words: “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Beneath the waistline, a squiggly “Donald” appeared as the signature, stylized to resemble pubic hair.

A screenshot of a birthday note allegedly written by Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein. Photograph: Oversight Dems via X

Attorneys representing the co-executors of Epstein’s estate handed over a copy of the so-called birthday book on Monday after receiving a subpoena from House oversight committee chair James Comer of Kentucky, a Republican.

The request followed a 25 July letter from Democrats Sylvia Garcia and Ro Khanna, who urged the estate’s legal team to produce the material “to assist in bringing transparency and accountability”.

The volume, a professionally bound collection presented to Epstein in 2003, three years before his first arrest, featured notes from numerous figures in his social circle at the time, according to the Journal.

Contributors reportedly included Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and the billionaire Leon Black. While some entries offered routine well-wishes, others contained sexual innuendo, provocative sketches, or photographs.

Trump vehemently denied having written or illustrated the note, dismissing it as “a fake thing” and insisting “these are not my words, not the way I talk”.

He later filed a defamation lawsuit against the Journal’s reporters, publisher Dow Jones and parent company News Corp. In response, a Dow Jones spokeswoman said: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting.” The lawsuit sought $10bn in damages and specifically named media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has spent months shifting its position on whether Epstein-related files would be released or even if they existed at all, with Trump at one point calling them a “Democrat hoax”.

The House oversight committee, with participation from Democrats and Republicans, continues to review Epstein-related records. Epstein, a wealthy financier with numerous powerful connections, died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.