September 09, 2025 09:54 AM UTC

New Epstein Estate Trump Disclosures Test MAGA Faithful Gullibility

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• by: Colorado Pols

As NBC News reports, yesterday was a pretty bad day for Republicans wishing along with President Donald Trump that the unrelenting controversy over the case of deceased pedophile billionaire and former close friend of Trump Jeffrey Epstein would have subsided over the long August congressional recess.

It didn’t, and it’s getting worse by the minute:

A House committee Monday released a trove of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that included a lewd note President Donald Trump is alleged to have sent as part of a collection of messages for the late convicted sex offender’s 50th birthday more than two decades ago.

The so-called birthday book was by far the most revealing of the records made public from the subpoena the Republican-led House Oversight Committee sent to Epstein’s estate last month. The panel released all of the documents it received hours after Democrats on the committee posted an image of the birthday letter that was signed “Donald.”

Trump has denied having had anything to do with the card, which was included in a leather-bound book of birthday messages for Epstein in 2003.

The image, subpoenaed by House Oversight Committee directly from Epstein’s estate, looks very much as it was described by the Wall Street Journal in July:

Despite numerous examples of Trump’s trademark scribble signature that perfectly match the signature shown above, the administration’s response to this disclosure is that it somehow proves Trump right, brushing past its accuracy as reported and the chain of custody of the subpoenaed documents from Epstein’s estate. After July’s report in the WSJ describing the letter’s contents and “artwork,” Trump sued News Corporation for $10 billion based principally on their denial that this letter exists:

Brad Edwards, an attorney who has represented Epstein survivors, said in a statement Monday night that “Trump’s hypocrisy has been most frustrating for the victims: he told the public the Epstein story should ‘go away,’ yet filed a $10 billion lawsuit that only magnifies the very issue he wants silenced.”

“With today’s release, the least he could do is withdraw that lawsuit and publicly apologize to the journalist he attacked for reporting what seems to have now proved to be true,” Edwards added.

If this wasn’t bad enough, another photo released by House Oversight Committee Democrats against the wishes of their Republican counterparts raises exactly the questions Trump doesn’t want to answer:

This photo depicts a joke, presumably a joke but we can only in the end hope for the best, about Epstein selling a “fully depreciated woman” to Donald Trump. We’re not going to delve too deeply into what is meant by “fully depreciated” in terms of a woman for sale, the terms of billionaires selling and buying a human being, and for what purpose she would have been sold. But if this photo uncovered by subpoena doesn’t validate the worst possible fears about Trump and Epstein’s relationship, we don’t know what can.

Locally, the only Republican who has dared to stand up to the administration and sign the discharge petition that would force a vote on releasing all the information from the Epstein investigation is Rep. Lauren Boebert, who at this point is taking a significant political risk in defying the administration and Speaker Mike Johnson’s pressure. It may be that none of the other Republicans in the delegation will have the courage to join her, a standing indictment against the integrity of “law and order” types like former cop Gabe Evans. If any of our local Republicans did work up the nerve to sign the discharge petition it would be Rep. Jeff Hurd–but since caving in on the “We’re All Going To Die Act,” Hurd has muted his prior criticism of Trump’s misdeeds.

The one thing apparent today is that this controversy is far from over. Increasingly, believing Trump’s blanket denials requires a suspension of critical thinking that cannot be expected from anyone except the most factually impervious of Trump’s core supporters. Trump does appear to have lied about this salacious letter to Epstein, and the photo of this mock “purchase” of a “depreciated woman” cannot be dismissed as idle humor in the full context we now have.

Every new disclosure about Trump and Epstein’s relationship suggests the worst-case scenario is correct.