President Donald Trump gave his first on-camera reaction to a drawing and signature in Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th “birthday book” that he allegedly signed in 2003, denying that what is in the book is his signature or “language,” while speaking to reporters outside Joe’s Seafood in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night.
“This is not my signature. And that’s not how I speak. And anyone who has covered me for a long time knows that that is not my language,” Trump said when asked about the situation by ABC’s Hannah Demissie.
“It’s nonsense,” he said.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released an image of Trump’s alleged birthday message on Monday, following receipt of documents and communications from Epstein’s estate.
After the Wall Street Journal first reported on the birthday book and Trump’s alleged contribution in mid-July, Trump denied writing the letter, calling it “fake”. Trump also filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the paper. Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent company, said it is confident in the accuracy of the reporting.
When asked by NBC News, Trump called it a “dead issue” on the phone.
“I don’t comment on dead issues. I relayed all comments to the staff. “It’s a dead issue,” Trump said Tuesday morning, according to NBC News.
Top administration officials have denied that the president signed the birthday message.
“The president did not draft this letter. He did not sign the letter. At Tuesday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the president’s external legal team is aggressively pursuing litigation against the Wall Street Journal and will continue to do so.
When asked if the administration would support a review by a professional handwriting expert, Leavitt responded, “Yes.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, chastised Democrats on Tuesday for how they handled documents from the Epstein estate.
“The Democrats find something in there, promote it, and try to create a narrative. “This investigation is about bringing justice and accountability to the victims,” Comer stated.
Comer told ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Jay O’Brien that while he hasn’t “looked at the signature yet,” he believes Trump’s denials about the birthday message.
Comer told reporters that the committee expects to receive additional documents as part of its Epstein investigation.
“We’ve got a lot more documents we expect to get in,” according to him. “We’re going to bring a lot of people in for deposition, so this investigation is moving along very rapidly, and hopefully we’ll get some answers and some justice very soon.”
In response to developments surrounding the so-called birthday book and the alleged letter from Trump, Brad Edwards, an attorney for scores of Epstein survivors, stated on Monday that Trump’s “hypocrisy has been most frustrating for the victims.”
“He told the public the Epstein story should ‘go away,’ yet filed a $10 billion lawsuit that only magnifies the very issue he wants silenced,” Edwards, of ABC News, said. “With today’s release, the least he could do is withdraw that lawsuit and publicly apologize to the journalists he attacked for reporting what seems to have now proved to be true.”
Leavitt was asked on Tuesday about Epstein survivors and whether the president is willing to meet with them. She stated that Trump “cares about victims of all crimes” before attacking Democrats, claiming they were “desperately trying to concoct a hoax to smear the president of the United States.”
Leavitt, who earlier in the press briefing referred to the Epstein saga as “a hoax against the president of the United States,” was asked to elaborate on what the White House considered a “hoax” and how these documents ended up at the Epstein estate.
“I never said the documents were a hoax. I said the entire narrative surrounding Jeffrey Epstein that is currently dominating many of the liberal cable channels on television is a hoax,” Leavitt responded.
“The Democrats view this story as nothing more than an attempt to distract from the accomplishments and the achievements of this administration, and that is what we mean when we call it a hoax,” she told reporters.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the panel’s ranking member, said following Monday’s disclosure that Trump has more to answer for in the Epstein case.
“The Oversight Committee has secured the infamous ‘Birthday Book’ that contains a note from President Trump that he has said does not exist,” Garcia tweeted. “It’s time for the President to tell us the truth about what he knew and release all of the Epstein documents. “The American people are demanding answers.”
In July 2019, Epstein was arrested and charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and child sex trafficking. He died in custody one month later, while awaiting trial. His death was ruled as a suicide by hanging.
