Two senior House Democrats have requested a complete, unredacted copy of Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book” from the late sex offender’s estate lawyers, after reports that it contains a crude poem and doodle from Donald Trump.
Representatives Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia wrote to the legal team representing Epstein’s estate on Friday, giving a deadline of 10 August for the document to be supplied. The leather-bound album, compiled by Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, is said to include birthday greetings from Trump, Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz, among others.
Khanna criticised Congress for leaving Washington without voting on his bipartisan bill to release Epstein files, saying: “The public deserves to know the truth and the survivors and their families deserve justice.” Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, added: “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.”
The request comes after a lawyer representing Epstein victims, Brad Edwards, stated that the estate’s executors were in possession of the book. Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal over its report that he contributed a page featuring an imagined dialogue and a sketch of a naked woman, which he has called “fake and nonexistent”.
The book is considered relevant to congressional oversight of the Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein case, as well as the Trump administration’s selective declassification of related documents. Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed Trump that his name appeared multiple times in Epstein investigation files, and a federal judge in Florida rejected a White House request for grand jury transcripts.
