President Donald Trump has responded to accusations that he sent Jeffrey Epstein a lewd birthday card after Democrats released images of the alleged drawing.
Trump, declining to comment on the letter, told NBC News during a phone call this morning: ‘I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue.
‘I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue.’
Trump previously called the birthday message ‘fake’ and filed a $10billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the message referring to a ‘wonderful secret’.
A photo of card – which appears to bare Trump’s signature – was turned over by representatives of the late, disgraced financier to Congress as part of the investigation into his crimes.
Democrats on the Oversight Committee then released the sketch on Monday, reigniting a controversy that has dogged the White House in recent months.
Later Monday, a photo was released from the book of a Mar-a-Lago member with Epstein holding an oversized check, with a hand-written note captioning it.
Trump has also decried the continued focus on the Epstein files as a ‘Democrat hoax,’ despite bipartisan concern about a government cover-up.
President Donald Trump (pictured Sunday) this morning responded to accusations that he sent Jeffrey Epstein a lewd birthday card, calling it a ‘dead issue’
President Donald Trump is under fire once again after a lewd birthday letter bearing his signature was released by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate
‘NEW PAGE FROM EPSTEIN’S BIRTHDAY BOOK: Epstein and a longtime Mar-a-Lago member joking about selling a ‘fully depreciated’ woman to Donald Trump for $22,500,’ the account wrote.
The photo was released to the Democrats by the Epstein estate and was originally from Joel Pashcow, a man with 19 phone numbers and 4 addresses in Epstein’s infamous ‘little black book.’
‘Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500,’ the full note reads.
The woman, whose name was redacted, said she had no prior knowledge of the letter and her lawyer told WSJ it was a ‘disgusting and deeply disturbing hoax.’ Pashcow has yet to comment.
White House aides were quick to push back on the released image and threaten lawsuits over the allegations.
‘The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal proves this entire ‘Birthday Card’ story is false,’ Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X. ‘As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.
‘President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation,’ her statement continued, lambasting the reporter for publishing ‘fake news’ about the ‘Democrat Epstein Hoax!’
Trump suggests that the Democrats are the ones with the most to lose with the release of the files. The president has also complained that the Democrats did not release the documents while Joe Biden was in office.
But Rep. Robert Garcia, the Oversight Committee’s Democratic ranking member, has now hit out at the president, alleging he is ‘lying’.
In a statement to The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Garcia said: ‘President Trump called the Epstein investigation a hoax and claimed that his birthday note didn’t exist.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Jeffrey Epstein and Trump pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 1997
Trump, his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss (now Trump), Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on February 12, 2000
Later Monday, the same account posted a photo from the book of a Mar-a-Lago member with Epstein holding an oversized check, with a hand-written note captioning it