House Democrats on Friday sent a letter to the attorneys representing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein requesting a copy of the so-called “birthday book” that reportedly contains a crude poem and doodle from Donald Trump in celebration of the late sex offender’s 50th birthday.
In the letter, California congressmen Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia say the contents of the book may be “essential” to congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein controversy. In the letter, they ask for a “complete and unredacted” copy of the book by 10 August.
“The public deserves to know the truth and the survivors and their families deserve justice,” said Khanna, who criticized Congress for leaving Washington early without voting on his bipartisan bill to release the Epstein files.
The birthday book is a leather-bound album compiled by Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring with Epstein to sexually traffic minors. It is reportedly filled with birthday greetings from dozens of Epstein’s friends and associates, including, according to the Wall Street Journal, messages from Trump, Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz, among other wealthy and powerful men.
On Thursday, the New York Times published an image of Maxwell’s dedication in the book.
Trump is suing the Journal over its initial report that he contributed a page with an imagined dialogue between “Donald” and “Jeffrey” and a sketch of a naked woman. In his federal lawsuit, Trump called the letter attributed to him “fake and nonexistent”.
Khanna and Garcia sent the letter after a lawyer representing hundreds of Epstein’s victims said the estate was in possession of the birthday book. The lawyer, Brad Edwards, said in an interview with the MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell that he believed the estate would turn over the book upon request.
“I know the executors are in possession of this book,” Edwards said in the interview.
Lawyers for the estate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The American people deserve to know who was involved in Epstein’s trafficking network and if they are in positions of power in our government,” Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said.
The Epstein files are at the center of an extraordinary rift between Trump and his Maga base, who have long-demanded the release of documents related to the child sex offender. The White House has failed to quell growing demands from his base for more transparency, while Democrats, out of power in Congress, press the issue to their advantage.
Trump and Epstein’s friendship in the 1990s and early 2000s was well-known and well documented. The president has said that he cut ties with Epstein in 2004, and he has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein matter.
Earlier this week, the Journal first reported that Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, briefed Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in the files related to the investigation.
In an attempt to confront the matter, Trump had instructed Bondi to seek the release of grand jury transcripts from an investigation into Epstein. In a setback, a judge in Florida rejected the Trump administration’s request, though a similar case is still pending in New York.
In the letter to the Epstein’s estate, the Democrats write that the book is “relevant for ongoing congressional oversight of the Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein investigation and prosecution, as well as the Trump administration’s decision to declassify and release only a handful of documents from the Epstein files while withholding others from the public”.
Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, who is now the deputy attorney general, met with Maxwell in federal prison on Friday and plans to meet her again on Saturday. Maxwell is attempting to have her conviction overturned.
