California Governor Gavin Newsom and several Democratic lawmakers have ridiculed Vice President JD Vance after a letter allegedly written by U.S. President Donald Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was made public.
The letter, first reported by The Wall Street Journal in July, allegedly included a provocative birthday message written by Trump to Epstein, accompanied by the now-released crude sketch of a naked woman.
Highlights
- California Governor Gavin Newsom and Democrats mocked VP JD Vance after a letter from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein was released.
- Trump denied the letter's existence and sued The Wall Street Journal for $10 billion over their report on the Epstein birthday note.
- The House Oversight Committee released the birthday book, confirming Trump's signature and a crude birthday message to Epstein.
Trump had denied the letter’s existence and filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Journal and its parent company.
Democratic lawmakers ridiculed JD Vance after Trump’s alleged letter to Epstein was made public
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
In July, Vance dismissed the report as “complete and utter b******t” and criticized the newspaper for publishing it without revealing evidence.
“The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it,” he wrote on X. “Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?” he added.
Later that month, after the Journal revealed further details about the birthday book containing the letter, Vance doubled down, “I have no idea if the book exists--WSJ won’t show it to us. I have no idea if the letter exists--WSJ won’t show it to us,” he wrote on X on July 24.
Image credits: The Wall Street Journal
“What I find absurd is the idea that Donald Trump was writing poems to Epstein, and I find it equally absurd that a major American paper would attack the President of the United States without revealing the basis for the attack.”
On Monday, the House Oversight Committee released the birthday book, confirming the letter bearing Trump’s signature.
The letter contained a crude drawing and a message that read, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
In response to the revelation, Governor Newsom shared a screenshot of Vance's earlier post on X, accompanied by the comment, “This aged nicely.”
The House Oversight Committee published letters from Epstein’s birthday book, which Trump denied existed
Representative Ilhan Omar also posted the screenshot with the caption, “Well,” followed by an eye-roll emoji, and a call to “RELEASE. THE. FILES.”
The Democratic Party's official X account joined in, sharing the post with the message, “Found the letter for you, @JDVance.”
Vance responded to the backlash by accusing Democrats of focusing on the Epstein case to create a scandal against Trump.
Image credits: Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
“The Democrats don’t care about Epstein. They don’t even care about his victims. That’s why they were silent about it for years. The only thing they care about is concocting another fake scandal like Russiagate to smear President Trump with lies,” he said in a post on X Monday evening. “No one is falling for this BS.”
The letter's release has intensified scrutiny of Trump's past associations with Epstein. While Trump has denied any wrongdoing, the publication of the letter has provided more evidence to questions about the nature of their relationship.
The Epstein estate provided the letter to Congress in response to a subpoena from Representative James Comer, the House Oversight Committee’s Republican chairman.
In a social media post, Comer accused Democrats of “cherry-picking documents” from Epstein’s estate, and he wants to do a thorough investigation.
The House Oversight Committee’s X account published another page from the book with a picture of Epstein at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, captioned, “Epstein and a longtime Mar-a-Lago member joking about selling a ‘fully depreciated’ woman to Donald Trump for $22,500.”
The book also included a page where Epstein ‘sold’ a ‘girl’ to Trump
The note also states, “Even though I handled the deal, I don’t get any of the money on the girl.”
Social media users also took to X to comment on Epstein’s birthday book.
One X user posted a humorous AI-generated image of a person completely wrapped in what appeared to be pages from the book, standing near ICE agents.
The caption read, “Clever migrant wears the Epstein Files to hide from the Trump Administration,” satirizing the administration’s denial of the files despite earlier statements that hinted at their existence.
Image credits: X
Another user edited an image of Trump’s popular red MAGA hat to say “Pedophile” on the top, followed by Trump’s signature.
Some commentators compared the signature on Epstein’s birthday letter to Trump’s autographs in his book ‘The America We Deserve’ and his previously written letters, noting how similar they are.
Image credits: X
Others said the signature is fake and called for another defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal.
Users also reshared an October 2024 video clip from Vance’s appearance on the This Past Weekend with Theo Von podcast, where Vance says, “No, seriously, we need to release the Epstein List. That is an important thing.”