A collection of letters given to the deceased famous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on his 2003 birthday contains birthday notes signed by President Donald Trump, the Wall Street Journal (WSG) reported Thursday.
Trump denied writing the letter and told Attorney General Pam Bondy on Thursday to request the court’s release of transcripts of testimony from all large ju courts in the Epstein case.
The WSJ claims rekindled the conspiracy over Epstein’s relationship with Trump. We break down how closely and intimately two men associated with each other over the years.
What was in Trump’s birthday letter to Epstein?
According to a report by WSJ, Epstein was presented with a collection of leather-bound letters and notes on his 50th birthday in 2003.
It was edited by Epstein’s associate, partner and partner Ghislaine Maxwell. She was convicted in 2021 and currently serves a 20-year sentence filed in 2022.
The letter contained text typewritten to a third party. It also features a painting of a woman’s breasts and was signed by “Donald.” The drawings appeared to be hand-drawn with heavy markers, WSJ reported.
The letter says, “Happy birthday – and every day may be another great secret.”
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the credibility of the letter.
Following the revelation about this letter, Trump wrote about the true social:
“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a scam. He shouldn’t print this fake story, but he did. And now I was trying to sue his a**.
He also wrote: “Based on the outrageous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I asked Attorney General Pam Bondy to generate all relevant large ju court testimony, subject to court approval.
Shortly after Trump’s statement, Bondy announced at X that the Justice Department planned to request that the Great Jury be removed from the court on Friday.
Here’s what we know about how well the two men know each other:
1980s: Trump and Epstein are friends
In 2002, Trump told New York magazine that he had been friends with Epstein since the late 1980s.
In the 1980s, Trump was a businessman and real estate mogul.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. A great guy,” Trump said.
“He’s so much fun to be with. He likes beautiful women just like me, and it’s been said that many of them are on the younger side. There’s no doubt about that. Jeffrey enjoys his social life,” Trump continued.
1990s: Trump and Epstein are found at a party together and fly together
Until the 1990s, two men discovered socializing at high-profile gatherings.
In November 1992, Trump threw a party with NFL cheerleaders at the Mar-a-Lago Estate in Florida. He had invited NBC to record the event.
A party tape issued by NBC Online in 2019 shows Trump laughing with Epstein.
In 1997, Epstein and Trump were seen together in the Victoria’s Secret “Angel” party in New York.
Trump also frequently flew on Epstein’s private jets seven times more total between 1993 and 1997, according to flight logs presented as evidence during Maxwell’s trial.
This included flights between Palm Beach and New York, once in 1993, once in 1995, once in 1995 and once in 1997, with flights between Palm Beach and New York, including a stop in Washington, DC.
2000s: The two continue their party, and Trump’s name is in the Epstein Files
Here are photos of two men at a party at the 2000 Trump Mar-a-Lago club.
These images also feature Maxwell and Trump’s now wife, known at the time as Melania Nauss.
In January 2024, approximately 950 pages of court documents identifying Epstein’s associates were released.
Trump was mentioned in these documents, but nothing was criticized.
Virginia Giuffre, one of the women who accused Epstein of sexual abuse, told the court that she worked for Mar a Lago when she was 16 years old when she was hired by Maxwell to become an Epstein masseuse.
Giuffle said Epstein and Maxwell groomed her in sexual acts with adult men, including Prince Andrew.
Johanna Schober, another woman who accused Epstein of sexual abuse, recalls a 2001 flight from Florida, where she and Virginia Giuffre (then minors) were among the passengers.
Due to the storm, the plane detoured to Atlantic City, where they visited one of Trump’s casinos.
Sjoberg said of Giuffre:
Giuffre died of suicide in April this year.
2003: Trump’s birthday letter to Epstein
The WSJ has published a text of a letter Trump allegedly wrote on Epstein’s birthday. It looks like a scripted format:
“Voiceover: You have to have more to do in life than you have everything.
Donald: Yes, there is, but I don’t know what it is.
Jeffrey: Because I am too. Because I know what it is.
Donald: Jeffrey has something in common.
Jeffrey: Yes, we do, think about it.
Donald: Enigma never ages, did you notice it?
Jeffrey: The truth is, when I last saw you it was clear to me.
Donald: The peers are amazing. Happy birthday – and every day may be another great secret. ”
Trump said Tuesday he hadn’t written to the WSJ and threatened to sue the publication, according to the report. “I have never painted my life. I never painted women,” he told the Journal.
“The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch personally warned us directly by President Donald J. Trump that the letters that President Trump believed had printed to Epstein were fake and that if they printed them they would be sued.”
Rupert Murdoch manages News Corp, the publisher of WSJ.
2004: Trump and Epstein have a real estate dispute
In 2004, Trump and Epstein fell into a seized oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach.
The Washington Post reported that Trump had surpassed Epstein in his fortune.
Since that day, there has been sparse public evidence that the two men were interacting.
2006: Epstein faces criminal charges
In 2005, Florida police alleged that Epstein sexually assaulted the 14-year-old girl after the girl’s parents filed a complaint.
Epstein was charged by Palm Beach police officials with multiple counts of illegal sex with Minor.
However, the state attorney took the extraordinary step of introducing the case to a large ju court. This indicted Epstein with a single count of soliciting prostitution.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to a charge involving one victim. He served in prison for 13 months under the job release program, leaving for work during the day and allowing him to return to prison at night.
2019: Epstein was again imprisoned and died in prison
During Trump’s first presidential term in 2019, federal prosecutors in New York accused Epstein of sex trafficking.
In July 2019, Trump was asked by a reporter about Epstein and said, “Well, everyone in Palm Beach knew him like he knew him. So the people in Palm Beach knew him. He was Palm Beach equipment.”
Trump added:
Epstein passed away on August 10, 2019 in a Manhattan prison.
In an interview after Epstein’s death, Trump said of the incident:
2025: Trump’s changing attitude towards the Epstein List
In 2024, during a campaign for the election, Trump said he would release information about the Epstein incident.
He also appointed Pam Bondi as Attorney General.
In an interview with Fox News in February, Bondi was asked, “It’s possible that DOJ is publishing a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, but does that really happen?”
She replied, “I’m sitting on my desk and reviewing it right now.”
However, on July 7, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo indicating that the government review had not found evidence that Epstein had a specific “secret client list.”
The memo also reaffirmed that Epstein had died of suicide. This is the argument that many conspiracy theorists disbelieve among Trump’s Magazine (which makes America great again). They believe that Epstein has sensitive information about a powerful person and that this is hidden and he was murdered.
When Trump and Bondi were asked by reporters about the July 7 memo, Trump said: “I can’t believe we’re asking Epstein questions at times like these, where we have the greatest success and tragedy that happened in Texas.
“It just seems like a sec,” Trump added.
Trump recently expressed his anger towards his supporters over Epstein’s theory of conspiracy.
“Let’s move these vulnerable people forward and do the Democrats’ work. Don’t even think about talking about our incredibly unprecedented success. He wrote on his true social platform on Monday.
