WASHINGTON — The White House slammed the release of President Trump’s alleged birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein as “FAKE NEWS” — as other prominent names were revealed in the book celebrating the dead pedophile’s 50th birthday in 2003.
The full book, provided to Congress by Epstein’s estate, was released by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Monday evening after panel Democrats released only the Trump page.
Trump, 79, told NBC News Tuesday morning that “I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue … I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue.”
The president previously denied drafting the page, which included a rough outline of a woman’s naked body and the words, “may every day be another wonderful secret,” and is suing News Corp, The Post’s parent company, after the Wall Street Journal first described the illustration in July.
Trump’s top spokespeople said the signature did not appear to be the president’s, though the Journal assessed it to be consistent with some of Trump’s prior autographs.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday at a press briefing that “the Democrats are using [Epstein] victims as political pawns to try to smear and to push a hoax against the president of the United States.” Leavitt maintained that the note attributed to Trump was not created by him.
“The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world, and he has for many, many years… long before he assumed this office when he was a businessman in New York,” she said. “The president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents. He maintains that position, and that position will be argued in court by his lawyers. The president is very confident he’s going to win this case.”
Leavitt tweeted Monday that “it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.”
Trump ended his association with Epstein in the mid-2000s — before Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida charges of soliciting sex from a minor, which saw him confined for 13 months, much of which was spent on work release.
The president said in late July that Epstein’s poaching of Mar-a-Lago masseuses caused their falling-out.
Other eye-popping birthday submissions allegedly compiled by the late sex trafficker’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell include a note from former President Bill Clinton praising Epstein for his “childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference, and the wealth of friends.”
Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence, has professed ignorance about possible misconduct by many powerful men — including Clinton and Trump, from whom Maxwell is seeking a pardon and who she has claimed “was never inappropriate with anybody.”
Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz, then a Harvard Law School professor, allegedly wrote: “As a birthday gift to you, I managed to obtain an early version of the Vanity Unfair article. I talked them into changing the focus from you to Bill Clinton.”
A number of entries in the birthday book make light of Epstein’s attraction to young women and girls.
One unsigned illustration shows Epstein holding out a lollipop and balloons to entice schoolchildren.
The late economist Henry Rosovsky, formerly dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, allegedly submitted a fingerprint-style impression of a woman’s breast, captioned, “Specially commissioned by Henry Rosovsky in honor of Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th barfday [sic].”
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The UK-born socialite has alleged that Rosovsky received a “massage” at Epstein’s Manhattan home.
Les Wexner, the billionaire former CEO of Victoria’s Secret, also allegedly submitted an image of a breast, describing it as “what you want.”
Current British Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson allegedly submitted a photo of himself in a bathrobe next to Epstein with a note saying the financier “remains my best pal.”
A spokesperson for Mandelson told the BBC that the longtime Labour Party official “has long been clear that he very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein.”
Businessman Joel Pashcow, a Mar-a-Lago member, allegedly submitted a mocked-up image showing Epstein holding an oversized check selling a “fully depreciated” woman “to Donald Trump for $22,500.”
The Journal reported that the woman, shown in the background of the image, was a “wealthy European then in her 20s, [who] severed all ties with Epstein around 1997 and had no romantic relationship with either Epstein or Trump, her lawyer said.” The attorney called the note a “disgusting and deeply disturbing hoax” and said she doesn’t know Pashcow.
Mort Zuckerman, the billionaire former owner of the New York Daily News, allegedly wrote a note referencing Epstein’s mysterious biography and career.
Zuckerman allegedly wrote he found records on Epstein, long rumored to be an intelligence agency asset, in the tabloid’s archives showing his “vital statistics, his birthday (23rd), his date of birth (July 11), his country of birth (Lichtenstein), his family life (wife, 3 children), and his profession.”
Some of the submissions and author names were redacted by the Epstein estate.
Other “Friends” of Epstein listed as making submissions included the late musician Ron Altbach; Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black; French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who killed himself in December 2020 while awaiting trial on charges of raping minors; Clearstone Venture Partners founder Bill Elkus; former Disney executive Bran Ferren; psychiatrist Henry Jarecki; Intellectual Ventures co-founder Nathan Myrhrvold; the late interior designer Alberto Pinto, and chemist Stuart Pivar.
In addition to one anonymous entry, two names were redacted from the table of contents.
Apart from the “Friends” category were alleged submissions from “Science” figures, including Garry Edelman, Murray Gellman, Steve Kosslyn, Martin Nowak and Lee Smolin — and more “Business” associate,s including Ace Greenberg, Jimmy Cayne, Ted Serure, Elliot Wolk and Ira Zicherman.
Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, roared back into the headlines this year when Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a massive review of documents from the case and teased potential bombshells in media interviews.
Bondi ultimately released a memo on July 7 asserting that there was no “client list” kept by Epstein and while the DOJ assessed that Epstein victimized more than 1,000 women and girls, there was no “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” stoking a months-long outcry by pro-Trump activists and members of Congress demanding more information.
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