Trump says signature on birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein is not his | Crime News

US president’s denial comes after White House said it would support a forensic analysis of the signature.

US President Donald Trump has repeated his denial that he penned a lascivious birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein amid sustained scrutiny of his links to the convicted sex offender.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Trump said the signature on the note to Epstein was not his.

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“It’s not my signature, and it’s not the way I speak. And anybody that has covered me for a long time knows that’s not my language,” Trump said.

“It’s nonsense.”

Trump’s denial came after the White House said earlier that it would support a forensic analysis of the signature to prove it did not belong to the US president.

“The president did not write this letter. He did not sign this letter,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The release of the note, contained in a 238-page scrapbook compiled to commemorate Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, has reignited long-simmering controversy over Trump’s connections to the late financier, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives published the suggestive letter on Monday after the scrapbook was turned over to lawmakers by Epstein’s estate.

The so-called “birthday book” also contains purported greetings from high-profile figures including former US President Bill Clinton, Apollo Global Management cofounder Leon Black, and former Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz.

Trump previously denied writing the letter, which features the sketched outline of a naked woman with the president’s purported signature in place of her pubic hair, after its existence was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in July.

Trump has sued the newspaper over the report, seeking at least $20bn in damages.

Trump has for months been dogged by questions about Epstein, including from some of his most ardent supporters.

Many members of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement reacted with outrage in July when a law enforcement review concluded that Epstein died by suicide and there was no credible evidence that he had kept a “client list” or blackmailed powerful figures.

Epstein, who had ties to some of the most prominent names in politics and business, has been the source of unproven theories for years, including that he was murdered to protect the existence of a sexual blackmail ring operated by US or foreign intelligence.

Many MAGA supporters had backed Trump’s re-election in the belief he would reveal Epstein’s involvement in a vast conspiracy implicating figures at the very highest levels of power.

Like many elite figures, Trump associated with Epstein during the 1990s and 2000s, once describing him as a “terrific guy” who liked women “on the younger side”.

Trump, who has denied having prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, has said the two men had a falling out more than two decades ago after the financier tried to hire young women away from his Mar-a-Lago resort.