Did Trump sign Epstein birthday book
Executive summary
The publicly released 2003 “First Fifty Years” birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein contains a sexually suggestive page that bears a hand-drawn torso and the name/signature “Donald” beneath it; multiple mainstream news outlets and a handwriting analyst have said the signature matches Donald Trump’s, while the White House and Trump have denied authorship and called the item fake or defamatory [1] [2] [3] [4]. No court has definitively adjudicated authenticity in the public record cited here, and litigation and partisan framing have shaped how the evidence has been presented and received [2] [5].
1. The document that sparked the question: what the birthday book shows
House Democrats released a redacted 238‑page scrapbook compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday that includes a page with an outline of a woman’s torso enclosing a short imagined conversation and the word or signature “Donald” placed beneath the pelvis area, which critics say appears suggestive and explicit in context [1] [6] [7]. The Oversight Committee produced the files to Congress; major outlets published screenshots and transcriptions showing the same page and noting the signature’s placement and the text that ends, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret” [1] [4].
2. Independent assessments and media reporting that weigh toward authenticity
Several news organizations that first reported or later analyzed the files — including The Wall Street Journal, PBS, TIME and others summarized here — found the handwriting and signature style consistent with Donald Trump’s known signatures from the 1990s and 2000s; at least one professional graphologist told Sky News the signature was “absolutely” Trump’s based on distinctive characteristics [8] [9] [10] [3]. Both The Wall Street Journal and reporting referenced in outlets such as Axios and The Independent noted that the birthday-book signature uses only a familiar “Donald” form rather than Trump’s full formal signature, but said that matched the president’s casual inscriptions in that era [5] [11] [8].
3. Denials, counterclaims and partisan rebuttals
The White House and Trump have emphatically denied the note’s authenticity, with spokespeople saying “he did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it,” and the president calling the report false and filing litigation against The Wall Street Journal; allies and MAGA commentators argued the image was forged or misattributed, pointing to differences from some more recent signatures and to motives for political attacks [4] [2] [5]. The White House framed release of the files as politically motivated and promised aggressive legal action, while Trump’s team has sought to cast doubt on provenance and chain-of-custody even as congressional committees released the files after subpoenas [2] [7].
4. What the public record does — and does not — prove
The documents released by the House Oversight Committee indisputably include the page bearing the drawing and a “Donald” signature, and some forensic analysts and multiple media reports conclude the signature is consistent with Trump’s writing from the era [1] [3] [5]. What the sources here do not show is a legal finding or forensic consensus establishing authorship beyond dispute: denials, a pending lawsuit by Trump against a publisher, and partisan messaging mean the question of definitive authentication has been litigated in the court of politics even as formal forensic or judicial closure remains unreported in these sources [2] [3].
5. Political context, incentives and why the question remains combustible
The files were released amid intense congressional scrutiny of Epstein’s network and in a highly polarized environment where both sides have incentives to amplify or suppress damaging connections; Democrats highlighted the item to spotlight Epstein’s circle and possible implications for powerful figures, while Trump’s camp has incentives to discredit the provenance and blunt political damage with denials and lawsuits, producing competing narratives rather than a single settled factual record in the sources cited [6] [12] [7]. Given that mainstream outlets, a handwriting expert, and congressional releases all point to a page bearing Trump’s name while the White House continues to deny it and pursues litigation, the most accurate public statement based on these sources is that a birthday-book page exists bearing a signature that multiple analysts deem consistent with Trump’s, but Trump denies authorship and no final authoritative legal determination is presented in the reporting compiled here [1] [3] [2].