A letter allegedly sent by former president Bill Clinton to Jeffrey Epstein and included in his infamous “birthday book” was among the files released by members of the House Oversight Committee Monday.
Democrats on the panel received a fresh tranche of documents from the late billionaire sex offender’s estate after its executors complied with their subpoena.
The representatives moved quickly to make their findings public. Included in the release was a bawdy drawing allegedly sent by President Donald Trump, which he has vehemently denied having made, for inclusion in the book of tributes compiled by Epstein’s then-girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and gifted to him on the occasion of his 50th birthday on January 20 2003.
Also present in the book is a note attributed to Clinton that reads: “It’s reassuring isn’t it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and [illegible word], and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends.”
The existence of the letter was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in July. A Clinton representative declined to comment at the time but The Independent has reached out again in response to the Oversight Committee’s release.
Angel Urena, a spokesperson for Clinton, previously issued a statement that read: “President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some time ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.”
Urena also confirmed that the former president took “a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane” between 2002 and 2003, reporting that one was to Europe, one to Asia and two to Africa, all on behalf of the Clinton Foundation.
“Staff, supporters of the foundation, and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg of every trip,” he added.
The spokesperson said Clinton had visited Epstein’s New York office and apartment in 2002, again with a member of staff and his security detail present, and that his employer had not spoken to Epstein in “well over a decade” prior to his death in August 2019. Clinton never visited his private Caribbean island of Little St James, nor his New Mexico ranch or Florida mansion, the spokesperson added.
Former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear before the House panel to give testimony about Epstein on October 9, followed by her husband on October 14, according to the committee’s Republican chairman James Comer.
A number of former attorneys general and two ex-FBI directors will also give evidence this fall.
For his part, Trump has denied any association with the drawing that bears his signature and is suing the WSJ for $10 billion for suggesting he was its creator.
Under intense pressure from his own supporters to release all files held by the Justice Department on Epstein, the president has explained that, although he was friendly with the disgraced financier in the 1990s and early 2000s, as has been well documented, the two men fell out after Epstein was accused of poaching employees from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Responding to Monday’s developments, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X: “As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.”
