House Oversight receives Epstein estate files, including 'birthday book'

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has released files from the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein, including the so-called birthday book containing an alleged, racy message from President Donald Trump.

Earlier in the day, the X account for Oversight Democrats posted an image of the letter, adding, "Trump talks about a 'wonderful secret' the two of them shared. What is he hiding? Release the files!"

The alleged message from Trump contains the outline of a woman's body and includes the line, "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey." It was included in a book, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that was compiled by Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell for convicted sex offender's 50th birthday. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding and participating in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.

POLITICO has not been able to independently confirm the letter's veracity, and Trump denies any association with it. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the president "did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it," and that he would continue his lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal.

Democrats, however, cast Monday's disclosure as evidence of a cover-up.

“The Oversight Committee has secured the infamous ‘Birthday Book’ that contains a note from President Trump that he has said does not exist," said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the panel, in a statement. "It’s time for the President to tell us the truth about what he knew and release all the Epstein files. The American people are demanding answers."

Other documents included in the materials, which the committee received Monday afternoon and released hours later, are Epstein's last will and testament from 2019; the non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and the U.S. attorney's office in South Florida; contact entries between 1990 and 2019; and information about Epstein's bank accounts. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in his jail cell.

Some of the information from Epstein's estate has been previously disclosed, including the non-prosecution agreement and excerpts of the birthday book. The contacts lists released by the committee come from a February 2016 court filing in a federal civil lawsuit Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre brought against Maxwell. Much of the information was published in 2015 by the online news site Gawker, although the phone numbers and emails were generally redacted.

The lawyers for Epstein's estate said that they had "redacted names and faces of women and minors who appear in the book (other than Ms. Maxwell, public figures, and family or class photos) to ensure that no potential victims are publicly identifiable," according to a letter to Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) that was obtained by POLITICO. The estate also redacted nudity in the book, but the lawyers wrote that the original would be available for Congress to review.

The estate also redacted the name of a woman who witnessed Epstein's execution of an older version of his will to protect a potential victim.

The trove of materials released by the Oversight Committee represent the first time that the book celebrating Epstein's 50th birthday has been published in full. It contained a photo of Epstein and others holding a check bearing Trump’s name for $22,500, with a note below the image seemingly joking that the check was a payment from Trump to Epstein for “FULLY DEPRECIATED” women.

In light of the new information from Epstein's estate, the Oversight Committee said it would continue to probe the disgraced financier's bank records.

The Republican-led committee subpoenaed the Epstein estate for materials as part of his committee's investigation into the Department of Justice's handling of the Epstein case. House GOP leadership has been leveraging the Oversight panel's probe to push back against an insurgent effort led by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie to force a floor vote that would compel the DOJ to turn over all files in the Epstein case in 30 days.

Comer continued to defend Trump Monday amid scrutiny of his ties to Epstein and Trump's name and alleged signature in the birthday book.

“It’s appalling Democrats on the Oversight Committee are cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein Estate today," Comer said in a statement. "Oversight Committee Republicans are focused on running a thorough investigation to bring transparency and accountability for survivors of Epstein’s heinous crimes and the American people. President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing and Democrats are ignoring the new information the Committee received today."

The first tranche of materials the Justice Department sent to House Oversight included roughly 33,000 filesof materials, the vast majority of which had already been in the public domain. It exacerbated complaints from Massie and his allies, and most Democrats, that the piecemeal approach would not satisfy demands for transparency.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.