On Monday, not one but two documents providing yet more evidence of Donald Trump’s close relationship to billionaire sex offender were released to the public — prompting Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett to remark that it’s “really a sad day” for America that Trump “is the guy leading our nation.”
For those just catching up, first on Monday, the Wall Street Journal published the actual birthday note Trump wrote for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, which was included as part of a larger birthday book. The existence of the book and the letter were originally reported by WSJ in July. House Democrats have also confirmed that the House Oversight Committee has received a copy of the same letter. Along with a poem, the message included a drawing of a nude woman, with Trump’s signature appearing to stand in for public hair.
Trump has long denied the existence of the letter, calling it a hoax somehow created by Democrats, and on Monday he repeated that claim. He and his supporters have insisted that the image of the letter itself is fake, and in particular they claim that the signature is not Trump’s. However, multiple news organizations, including the the New York Times, have compared the signature on the letter to other examples of Trump’s signature, and these comparisons show they are identical.
Also on Monday, the House Oversight Committee released a photo also said to have been included in Epstein’s birthday book, which shows Epstein and three other people holding a giant oversized check along with a note, “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.”
“Depreciated” appears to be a joke about the age of a woman, possibly one in the photo whose face is redacted. The signature on that oversized check does not resemble Trump’s known signature however.
On Monday night, Crockett discussed all of this with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“The White House has denied that the drawing existed. They denied that it was Trump’s signature. Tonight, they are denying it, saying that releasing it is proof that it’s not his signature,” Collins said, noting that CNN has also compared that signature to Trump’s other signatures to show they are “similar.” “What do you make of the White House’s defense here,” she then asked Crockett.
“The fact that the President is a liar. He’s consistent. I mean, that’s all I really got for you,” Crockett said. She then rebutted Trump’s claim that the letter was created by Democrats. “We got this from the Epstein estate. This isn’t something that came from a random Democratic something, this came from the estate. And so because, basically, that would have been that someone had to forge this correct? That’s the whole thing. Like it before he even got elected. Remember when Epstein died, right? That was before Donald Trump got elected this time. And they would have had to have some kind of foresight that he was going to run for office again, somehow win again. And we’ve got to make sure that this is sitting here so that when a committee comes through to get this. It’s crazy.”
Crockett acknowledged that birthday letter isn’t by itself proof of any specific wrongdoing by Trump. But, she added, his behavior related to them raises more questions.
“I think the biggest issue is the fact that he cannot be honest about it, right? Like, Why lie? Because it doesn’t implicate right? But the fact that you’re lying makes it look like, ‘what else are you lying about?’ Those are the questions that we have. If you’ll lie about something this simple, then when you’re trying to tell us that you had nothing to do with these women or these girls, why should we believe you?”
As for the other photograph, Crockett said, “I think that that is more incriminating than the birthday. The birthday just makes him look like a creep. But this, it’s, it’s joking about selling a woman. When, and why is that ever funny?” the congresswoman asked. “And why is it that they would say that he would be one that would be buying a woman, and so, and to say ‘fully depreciated’… and it had some things that really made you feel like it was somebody that was young, because it was talking about the ability to learn, like a quick learner, or something like that. I don’t remember the exact language, but it’s really disturbing.”
“And honestly,” she continued, “it’s really a sad day in this country that this is the guy that is leading our nation. I mean, we used to care about the morality of a leader, but when you’re looking at this and you’re looking at his actions overall, it doesn’t seem like he has a moral compass or that he has an honest bone in his body.”
Watch her remarks in the videos below: