What is the status and provenance of the birthday letter allegedly from Trump to Epstein?
Executive summary
The purported birthday letter from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein surfaced in mid‑2025 via reporting by The Wall Street Journal and was later publicly released by House Oversight Democrats after being produced by Epstein’s estate under subpoena; the provenance traces to a 2003 “birthday book” compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday, but the letter’s authorship remains disputed and not forensically established in public reporting [1] [2] [3].
1. Origin: where the page came from and how it reached Congress
The note is one page among a 238‑page bound album assembled in 2003—commonly called Epstein’s “Birthday Book” or “The First Fifty Years”—which Ghislaine Maxwell solicited contributions for and presented to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday; The Wall Street Journal first reported the album and the letter in July 2025, and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee later disclosed a copy after Epstein’s estate produced documents in response to a congressional subpoena [1] [2] [3].
2. What the document shows and why it drew attention
Published images of the page show typewritten text framed by a hand‑drawn outline of a woman’s torso and a scrawl identified as “Donald J. Trump” above a signature‑like mark; the wording includes a sexually suggestive line—“Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret”—and the page was singled out because the signature and graphic match descriptions in the Journal’s original reporting [3] [4] [5].
3. Trump’s response and legal fallout
President Trump has repeatedly denied writing the note or creating the drawing, calling the report a hoax and falsely attributing the signature to other hands, and he filed a $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal after the Journal’s initial publication; the White House reiterated that the signature “did not belong” to him and offered to accept handwriting analysis—while the administration also frames the broader Epstein reporting as politically motivated [2] [3] [6] [7].
4. Chain of custody and contested authenticity
Key provenance details are clear in reporting: the page originated in the Maxwell‑assembled album and the estate of Epstein produced the book to the Oversight Committee under subpoena, which strengthens its documentary chain compared with anonymous leaks, but major news organizations and fact‑checkers note that independent forensic authentication has not been publicly released and Reuters explicitly said it could not immediately confirm authenticity when the Journal first reported the letter [1] [3] [2] [5]. Congressional Democrats argue the estate’s production under subpoena lends weight to authenticity, while Republicans and Trump allies accuse Democrats of cherry‑picking documents and politicizing the release [8] [9].
5. Public reaction, context and motivations in reporting
The release intensified scrutiny because the album includes other high‑profile names and because Maxwell—a central figure in Epstein’s trafficking network—compiled it, feeding public interest in who knew what about Epstein’s conduct; advocates and some lawmakers say the documents provide useful leads for survivors and investigators, while Trump supporters and allied media have pushed narratives of forgery and political persecution, an incentive structure that colors both coverage and legal maneuvering [1] [10] [11].
6. Bottom line: status today and what’s unresolved
As of the latest reporting, the physical page is publicly available via the House Oversight Committee release and its provenance ties back to Maxwell’s 2003 compilation and Epstein’s estate’s production under subpoena, but the question of whether Donald Trump actually wrote and signed the note remains contested and unresolved in the public record because no independent forensic verification has been released and reporting shows competing claims rather than definitive proof [3] [1] [2] [5].