Epstein's congratulatory book becomes Trump's book of horrors
The Congressional investigative committee also published a photograph of a check signed by Trump that allegedly bought a woman from Epstein.
Washington"Enigmas never get old, have you noticed?" wrote Donald Trump to congratulate the 50th anniversary of Jeffrey Epstein. His relationship with the sexual predator never seems to age or die either: every time the president of the United States believes he has put the conspiracy about the Epstein list that he himself fueled behind him, the story resurfaces. This time it has been in the form of of a female silhouette, which frames an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein and which the Republican signed below the waist. "We have some things in common, Jeffrey," it read.
The copy of the book of congratulations for Epstein's 50th birthday that his heirs have delivered to the US Congress contradicts Trump's denials about the existence of the congratulations and brings the political pot to a boil again. The ghost of Epstein is the only element that has the potential to shake the president with his base. Neither the cuts in the agency for emergency situations nor the new tax law that will leave thousands of citizens without coverage and that affects rural hospitals where the majority of Republican voters are concentrated. What has caused the discredit among the MAGA ranks It is Trump's relationship with billionaire Epstein.
At the doors of the beginning of the electoral year of some mid-terms which promise to be more significant than the previous legislative elections, Democrats are doing everything possible to ensure that the Epstein case is not forgotten. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee were the ones who posted the image of Trump's signed birthday card on social media on Tuesday. In July, when the Wall Street Journal revealed its existence, the US president denied it and sued the newspaper for defamation. Two months later, the image is already circulating on social media. And it's not the only element that points to Trump in the greeting book he compiled: Estein's partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving 20 years in prison for conspiracy to sex traffic minors.
The Democrats on the legislative committee have also published a photograph from the book: it shows Epstein holding a joke check signed by Trump with a note suggesting that the billionaire "sold" the Republican a woman for $22,500. Along with Epstein, also appears Joel Paschow, a regular at Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion, and a woman – or so it seems – whose face has been covered. According to the Wall Street Journal, the check mocks a woman with whom the two billionaires would have been partying during the nineties.
The woman's lawyer explained to the WSJ that she broke off contact with Epstein around 1997, that she had no romantic relationship with either Epstein or Trump, that she doesn't know Pashcow, and that she was unaware of the letter, which she called a "repugnant and deeply disturbing mockery."
Silence and denial
Trump has not yet commented on the publication of the greeting and the photograph, nor has the White House. Some of the president's cabinet members have, and have claimed that the signature on the greeting is "fake." "It is very clear that President Trump did not draw this drawing nor sign it," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wrote on social media following the book's publication. "President Trump's legal team will continue to aggressively pursue legal action," Leavitt said, concluding: "This is fake news to perpetuate the Democrats' Epstein Hoax!"
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich also denied Monday night that the signature on the letter was Trump's and published alternative versions of his signature. On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, left a press conference without answering a reporter's question about the Epstein case.
On the internet, meanwhile, influential figures in the MAGA orbit are rallying around Trump in an attempt to contain a revolt within the Trump base similar to the one seen this summer. "Is this really the best they could do?" wrote Benny Johnson, a influencer MAGA. "Trump has the most famous signature in the world. It's time to take them to court into oblivion." "The excerpt from WSJ "Does the signature below look like the president's actual signature?" said MAGA figure Charlie Kirk, head of Turning Point USA – a platform that fueled conspiracy theories about electoral fraud in the last election. "I don't believe it. It's fake," he added.
