House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump

What happened

The estate of Jeffrey Epstein Monday turned over a trove of subpoenaed documents to the House Oversight Committee. Before the committee published most of them Monday night, Democrats released a sexually suggestive 2003 birthday note purportedly from President Donald Trump to Epstein.

When The Wall Street Journal in July accurately described the birthday note, featuring text shaped to fit inside the sketched contours of a naked woman, Trump denied writing it, said "I don't draw pictures," and sued the newspaper for defamation.

Who said what

"We have certain things in common, Jeffrey," the note signed "Donald" read. "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret." After its release, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was "very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it." Another spokesperson posted recent images of Trump's official full-name signature, claiming the "Donald" scrawl on the letter did not match.

But the signature looks "remarkably similar" to more personal correspondence Trump signed "closer to the time period of the birthday book," The New York Times said. The note's "signature and font," words and phrases, and "line drawing" strokes all resemble Trump letters and doodles from the early 2000s, the Journal said. The White House's denials are just "weird," Aaron Blake said at CNN. The note "comes from Epstein's estate," so for it to be fake, "someone would have had to plant it in Epstein's possessions a long time ago, somehow."

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What next?

The note's publication has "only intensified a furor that the president has been toiling to stamp out" over his GOP-splitting decision "not to fully release" the Epstein files, The Times said.