Liputan6.com, Jakarta The relationship between former US President Donald Trump and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has resurfaced.
This was sparked by a July 2025 report by The Wall Street Journal revealing an alleged "lewd" birthday letter Trump sent to Epstein in 2003.
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Donald Trump has vehemently denied writing the letter or creating the accompanying sketch, calling the report a "fake" and threatening to sue The Wall Street Journal.
However, Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee have released a copy of the alleged letter, which features a sketch of a woman's body and the signature "Donald."
Trump's request to unseal Epstein-related grand jury documents was denied in July 2025, but the House Oversight Committee continued to release thousands of pages of documents related to the Epstein investigation.
Details of Trump's Birthday Letter and Signature Controversy
In July 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump allegedly sent Jeffrey Epstein a "raunchy" birthday letter for his 50th birthday in 2003.
The letter was part of a birthday album collected by Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, and some of its contents had been reviewed by Justice Department officials during previous investigations into Epstein and Maxwell.
The controversial letter contained several lines of typed text framed by a hand-drawn sketch of a nude woman in thick marker. Most strikingly, the squiggly signature "Donald" was placed below the woman's waist, simulating pubic hair.
The letter concluded with the phrase, "Happy birthday—and may every day be another beautiful secret," along with a brief dialogue between "Donald" and "Jeffrey" that hinted at their similarities.
Donald Trump's Direct Response
In response to The Wall Street Journal report, Donald Trump quickly denied writing the letter or drawing the sketch.
As reported by CNN, President Trump has called the letter a “FAKE” and flatly denied authoring it. And plenty of allies lined up behind that denial.
Vice President JD Vance called the Journal’s report “complete and utter bullshit.”
“I never wrote a picture in my life,” Trump said at one point.
“I don’t draw pictures,” he added at another.
Responding to this, the US President even threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal over the report.
In September 2025, Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee posted a copy of an alleged letter Trump sent to Epstein on X (formerly Twitter), which featured a sketch of a woman's body.
However, the White House clarified that "President Trump did not draw this drawing, and he did not sign it," reiterating Trump's position denying any involvement in the letter's creation.
The Relationship Between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein are known to have had a close relationship that spanned the late 1980s and early 2000s.
The two were often described as friends and frequently visited each other's properties, including Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.
In 1992, Trump even invited NBC to film a party at Mar-a-Lago that he attended with Epstein and NFL cheerleaders.
In a 2002 profile for New York Magazine, Trump publicly praised Epstein as a "great guy" and "a lot of fun to hang out with."
Flight records show that Trump flew on Epstein's private jet at least seven times between 1993 and 1997, indicating their close relationship at that time.
Documents and Investigations Related to Jeffrey Epstein
The Jeffrey Epstein case has sparked a series of investigations and calls for transparency.
In July 2025, Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to produce additional documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, including a request for Attorney General Pam Bondi to file a court order to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the Epstein case.
However, in August 2025, a US federal judge denied the Trump-era Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury records related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, citing privacy concerns and minimal relevance.
Nonetheless, the House Oversight Committee obtained a "Birthday Book" containing notes from President Trump that it claimed did not exist.
In September 2025, the House Oversight Committee released more than 33,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein documents received from the Justice Department, adding to the volume of information available to the public.