House panel releases more records from Jeffrey Epstein's estate

The leather-bound book, titled "The First Fifty Years," is filled with handwritten and typed letters from friends, family and girlfriends, as well as childhood memories. Many of the handwritten letters are hard to decipher.

The book also contains Epstein's birth certificate, photos from childhood to adulthood, photos of women in bikinis, a chocolate chip cookie recipe, math equations and some explicit stories about sex, a CBS News review found.

The book is split into sections including family, Brooklyn, girlfriends, children, friends, science, "girl-friends," special assistants and business. A prologue was written by Ghislaine Maxwell.

One drawing in the book shows an adult man handing balloons to young girls. The year is 1983. Next to it is a drawing showing an older man receiving a massage from three nearly nude women in 2003.

"What a great country!" the drawing is captioned. It's unclear who the photo is from.

A letter from a "girlfriend" talks about Maxwell calling her to book a massage for her "employer." The woman recalls massaging Epstein's feet in 1993. He requested that she fly with them that night to Florida, but the woman had a previous engagement. Epstein called her when he returned "and my life was forever changed," she wrote, thanking him for all the opportunities he had provided her.

Another "girlfriend" wrote that she met Maxwell in Palm Beach while Maxwell was allegedly collecting "breast photos" for Epstein.

"I came to see you some months later you told me to take off my top," the woman wrote. "With the usual Epstein smile you looked at my breasts and said 'yeah, I was right.' Memory served you correctly. The beauty mark was on the right breast."

The book ends with a note from Maxwell that begins: "To the next fifty years."

"The next fifty years will be even more wonderful," she wrote.

Letters bearing the names of Mr. Trump and former President Bill Clinton were included in a section of Epstein's 2003 birthday book titled, "friends."

A handwritten note that appears to be signed by Clinton says, in part: "It's reassuring isn't it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing … and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends."

The existence of the Clinton note was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.

A Clinton spokesperson said in 2019 — after Epstein was arrested — that the former president hadn't spoken to the financier in over a decade and "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" he had been charged with.

The House Oversight Committee released a trove of records it received from Epstein's estate, including more than 200 pages from a book compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell for the late sex offender's 50th birthday.

Hours earlier, Democrats on the Oversight panel released two pages from the book, including a letter allegedly penned by Mr. Trump. The president has called the letter "fake."

Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who chairs the committee, accused Democrats of "cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein Estate today." He noted that Mr. Trump hasn't been accused of wrongdoing.

The newly released records also included Epstein's will, entries from his address books and a controversial non-prosecution deal between Epstein and federal prosecutors, the committee said in a statement.

House Oversight Democrats released on X a second page that they said was from the birthday book, which contains a photo of Epstein and three other people holding an oversized check bearing Mr. Trump's name.

The fake check was made out to Epstein for $22,500 and signed, "DJ TRUMP," although it does not resemble Mr. Trump's actual signature.

"Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells 'fully depreciated' [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500," someone wrote under the photo.

Democrats said on X the photo shows a "longtime Mar-a-Lago member joking about selling a 'fully depreciated' woman to Donald Trump for $22,500."

The faces of two people in the photo are redacted.

In a letter to the committee on Monday, Epstein's estate said it made redactions in the book compiled by Maxwell for Epstein's birthday.

"Please note that, in an abundance of caution, we have redacted names and faces of women and minors who appear in the book (other than Ms. Maxwell, public figures, and family or class photos) to ensure that no potential victims are publicly identifiable," the letter said. "We have also redacted photographs revealing any nudity from the book."

The estate also said it was "not aware of the existence of a 'list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr. Jeffrey Epstein.'"

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday afternoon that the president's legal team "will continue to aggressively pursue litigation" against the Wall Street Journal after it published a copy of the letter in July.

"As I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it," she wrote.

A committee aide said the panel also received other materials from Epstein's estate that are expected to be made public "in the near future."

They include Epstein's last will and testament, a September 2007 nonprosecution agreement between the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and Epstein, entries from Epstein's address books from January 1990 through Aug. 10, 2019, and information about Epstein's known bank accounts.

The subpoena compelled the estate to turn over the materials to the committee by Monday.

White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich shared several photos of Mr. Trump's signature, alleging "DEFAMATION!"

"It's not his signature," Budowich wrote on X.

A letter in the Epstein birthday book that was first described in July was alleged by the Wall Street Journal to have been written by Mr. Trump. The president has denied writing it and filed a defamation lawsuit against the Journal after its article was published.

The letter was released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The letter is written inside a line drawing of what appears to be the form of a woman and is written as if it were a conversation between Mr. Trump and Epstein.

The first line, a "Voice over," says, " There must be more to life than having everything," and "Donald" responds, "Yes, there is, but I won't tell you what it is."

"Jeffrey" then chimes in, "Nor will I, since I also know what it is."

Donald and Jeffrey agree they have "certain things in common," and Donald observes, "Enigmas never age."

The message signs off with the line, "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret. Donald J. Trump."

Last week, the committee released more than 33,000 pages of files it received from the Justice Department on Epstein, which included flight records, court documents, and a missing minute of video footage of Epstein's cell block from before his death. Many of the documents were already in the public domain.

Still, Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have sought the release of all the Epstein files. Last week, Reps. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, held a news conference with survivors of Epstein's abuse last week to call for more transparency, while urging their colleagues in the House to back an effort to force a vote to release the full files.

They need the support of just a few more lawmakers for their effort to succeed.

On Friday, Mr. Trump called the Epstein drama "a hoax" fueled by Democrats and again called for those seeking more materials to move on.

"The Department of Justice has done its job, they have given everything requested of them," he wrote on Truth Social.

The subpoena compelled the co-executors of Epstein's estate to turn over by Sept. 8 more than a dozen categories of documents and communications to the committee, including Epstein's last will and testament, all nondisclosure agreements executed by Epstein and his agents between 1990 and 2019 and the contents of a leather-bound book put together by convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime associate, for his birthday in 2003.

In July, The Wall Street Journal reported that that book included a note with a drawing of a naked woman bearing Mr. Trump's name. Mr. Trump has denied writing the letter or making the drawing and filed a defamation lawsuit over the story.

"Recent reporting indicates the estate of Mr. Epstein has access to documents relevant to the Committee's investigation, including the alleged 'birthday book' prepared for Mr. Epstein by Ms. Maxwell," House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, wrote in an Aug. 25 letter to Epstein's estate accompanying the subpoena.

Separately, the committee also subpoenaed former attorneys general and FBI directors for testimony about the case. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were also subpoenaed as part of the effort.

Bill Clinton was among those who wrote a birthday message to Epstein for the book, according to the Wall Street Journal's report in July.

Public interest in Epstein, a well-connected financier who was facing trial on federal sex trafficking charges when he died in federal custody in 2019, has swelled in recent months after the Justice Department issued an internal review in July saying it had found no "client list" or evidence that Epstein had blackmailed prominent figures–contradicting past statements by the Attorney General, Pam Bondi. The apparent reversal in the department's position has spurred calls for greater transparency from the Trump administration and divided the president's base.

The House Oversight Committee has been looking into the government's investigation into Epstein, and late last month, the panel issued a subpoena to Epstein's estate seeking documents and other material as part of its ongoing effort.