General Discussion

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(128,816 posts) Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:02 PM Sep 9

'It's a dead issue': Trump declines to comment on alleged Epstein letter

President Donald Trump declined to comment on the letter he allegedly signed for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th "birthday book" in 2003, calling it a "dead issue" when asked by NBC News.

"I don't comment on something that's a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. It's a dead issue," Trump said on Tuesday morning, according to NBC News.

On Monday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released an image of the birthday message allegedly sent by Trump, after the panel received documents and communications from Epstein's estate.

Trump's denied writing the letter, calling it "fake" after the Wall Street Journal first reported on the alleged birthday book and the contribution from Trump in mid-July. Trump also filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the newspaper. Dow Jones, the parent company of the Journal, said it has full confidence in the accuracy of the reporting.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/dead-issue-trump-declines-alleged-155030143.html

18 replies

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Highlight:

'It's a dead issue': Trump declines to comment on alleged Epstein letter (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Sep 9 OP

Just b/c Epstein's dead doesn't make it a "dead" issue. no_hypocrisy Sep 9 #1

Narrator: It is not a dead issue. underpants Sep 9 #2

In Biblical terms The Madcap Sep 9 #3

There's something even Nixon never thought of. JohnnyRingo Sep 9 #4

Dead man walking Aviation Pro Sep 9 #5

Keep dreaming, Cankles vonTacoTits. GoCubsGo Sep 9 #6

Says the serial rapist. dalton99a Sep 9 #7

MaddowBlog-Why the White House's unpersuasive pitch on the 'birthday book' seems so familiar LetMyPeopleVote Sep 9 #8

+1 dalton99a Sep 9 #9

Don't know the guy. He might have brought me coffee once. Norrrm Sep 9 #10

No, it ain't, asshole. Scrivener7 Sep 9 #11

Among the many things KRASNOV doesn't "get" is that he can't control or escape what History will say UTUSN Sep 9 #12

No it's Not "a dead issue" Asshole... Cha Sep 9 #13

"Don't look at the man behind the curtain!" sakabatou Sep 9 #14

A dead issue????? bdamomma Sep 9 #15

That's what you think, you prick Hekate Sep 9 #16

Defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal just hit a major snag struggle4progress Sep 9 #17

WSJ lawsuit just collapsed struggle4progress Sep 9 #18

no_hypocrisy

(53,107 posts)

1. Just b/c Epstein's dead doesn't make it a "dead" issue.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:04 PM

Sep 9

underpants

(193,097 posts)

2. Narrator: It is not a dead issue.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:06 PM

Sep 9

The Madcap

(1,471 posts)

3. In Biblical terms

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:10 PM

Sep 9

His is a "dead issue." Ask Stormy.

What a scummy liar.

JohnnyRingo

(20,164 posts)

4. There's something even Nixon never thought of.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:13 PM

Sep 9

Just say Watergate is a "dead issue" and stop talking about it so it just goes away, ...Genius! The press has no choice now but to move on.

Yes Chris Hanson, I know you think I'm in this kitchen to pick up a 13 year old girl, but I think it's a dead issue so I'll be on my way. No further questions.

Aviation Pro

(14,782 posts)

5. Dead man walking

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:14 PM

Sep 9

Is a live issue.

Fuck this enigma.

GoCubsGo

(34,335 posts)

6. Keep dreaming, Cankles vonTacoTits.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:16 PM

Sep 9

This is going to be a nightmare for you for the rest of your miserable, fucking life.

dalton99a

(90,323 posts)

7. Says the serial rapist.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:19 PM

Sep 9

LetMyPeopleVote

(169,983 posts)

8. MaddowBlog-Why the White House's unpersuasive pitch on the 'birthday book' seems so familiar

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:45 PM

Sep 9

Republicans had to choose: acknowledge the letter as legitimate or insist that a Trump-signed document wasn’t actually a Trump-signed document.

Thereâ€™s an approach to reality that says a Trump-signed document isnâ€™t actually a Trump-signed document.

Itâ€™s the same approach that says job numbers are fake. And polls are fake. And election results are fake. And science is fake. And evidence of crimes is fake. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-09T13:13:45.110Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-jeffrey-epstein-birthday-book-donald-trump-rcna230024

Eight weeks later, the story took a rather dramatic turn. My MSNBC colleague Erum Salam reported on the new batch of material from the Epstein estate released by Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee — including the contents of the so-called “birthday book.” From the report:

A copy of the book submitted to Congress (which was not reviewed by MSNBC) included a typed message, inside the outline of a woman’s torso, that read, in part, ‘A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.’ At the bottom of the message is a signature that appears to be Donald Trump’s.

The image looks like the one the Journal described in July.

BREAKING: House Oversight Committee Dems posted this photo of what appears to be Trump's birthday note to Epstein.

Trump previously denied the note and drawing's existence. MSNBC has not independently verified the drawing. The WH has denied the signature belongs to the president.
— MSNBC (@msnbc.com) 2025-09-08T20:02:54.216Z

......White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that it’s “very clear” that Trump didn’t draw the figure or sign the letter. Other White House officials pushed the same line, and true to form, several congressional Republicans soon followed, echoing the new party line.

At face value, the pushback was — and is — difficult to take seriously. The signature on the letter resembles other documents from that era that Trump signed.

ThAtâ€™a nOt TrUmPâ€™s SiGnAtUrE www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-08T21:38:29.142Z

For that matter, it’s difficult to imagine how the document in question could’ve been fabricated in the first place. As CNN’s Aaron Blake summarized, “The key fact here is that this comes from Epstein’s estate. In other words, for this letter to have been fake, someone would have had to plant it in Epstein’s possessions a long time ago, somehow.”.......

There’s a quote that’s often attributed to political theorist Hannah Arendt: “This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.” As it happens, Arendt didn’t actually say this (at least not exactly), but the quote resonates because of its salience:

Trump obviously tries to get people to believe lies all the time, but nearly as often, the president and his allies try to get people to give up on the idea that facts exist. With too many Americans, these tactics are effective, which helps explain why they’ve become so common.

dalton99a

(90,323 posts)

9. +1

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Reply #8)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 01:47 PM

Sep 9

Norrrm

(3,009 posts)

10. Don't know the guy. He might have brought me coffee once.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 02:19 PM

Sep 9

Scrivener7

(57,220 posts)

11. No, it ain't, asshole.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 02:59 PM

Sep 9

UTUSN

(75,745 posts)

12. Among the many things KRASNOV doesn't "get" is that he can't control or escape what History will say

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 04:03 PM

Sep 9

about him. There has already been a ton of reporting and testimony of what he's like and done, not like how he was used to in the tabloid world that he could just deny, hit and run, and lie. It's already been well exposed that HOOVER and COHN and others ran extortion empires and KRASNOV learned and does it.

There's a whole library on the HITLER era and the one on KRASNOV will challenge the sheer volume of it.

Cha

(314,461 posts)

13. No it's Not "a dead issue" Asshole...

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 04:17 PM

Sep 9

your birthday buddy, Epstein is 'dead" but you're Not.

sakabatou

(45,311 posts)

14. "Don't look at the man behind the curtain!"

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 04:39 PM

Sep 9

bdamomma

(69,027 posts)

15. A dead issue?????

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 04:43 PM

Sep 9

You wish. It's not going anywhere. He's such a POS!!!

Hekate

(99,491 posts)

16. That's what you think, you prick

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 04:44 PM

Sep 9

struggle4progress

(124,575 posts)

17. Defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal just hit a major snag

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 05:19 PM

Sep 9

Matt Naham
Sep 9th, 2025, 12:13 pm

... Trump threatened to sue the WSJ prior to the publication, then immediately sued the next day in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In that lawsuit, Trump attorney Alejandro Brito alleged that reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo made it all up and that the proof the letter was "nonexistent" was their inability or refusal to publish the letter itself ...

Trump threatened to sue the WSJ prior to the publication, then immediately sued the next day in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In that lawsuit, Trump attorney Alejandro Brito alleged that reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo made it all up and that the proof the letter was "nonexistent" was their inability or refusal to publish the letter itself ...

"The public revelation by the House Oversight Committee of a letter to Jeffrey Epstein apparently written and signed by Donald Trump is an enormous step forward in the Wall Street Journal's defense of the libel suit filed by Trump and a stunning blow to Trump's claim" ...

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/congressional-revelation-of-birthday-letter-to-epstein-is-a-stunning-blow-for-trump-lawsuit-against-wsj-legal-expert-says/

struggle4progress

(124,575 posts)

18. WSJ lawsuit just collapsed

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Sep 9, 2025, 05:21 PM

Sep 9

Matthew Chapman
September 8, 2025 8:15PM ET

... "Elie, I don't know, the signature looks pretty close to Donald Trump's signature, if not exactly like Donald Trump's signature," said anchor Jake Tapper. "Maybe not the ones in the ones in the pictures that Taylor Budowich tweeted out. But here's one from, [a letter] President Trump did ... in 2015. I mean, it's pretty identical. Is this going to make Trump's defamation case against News Corp more difficult?"

"It's going to be way more difficult, Jake, now," confirmed Honig.

"If you look at Donald Trump's actual complaint here, his lawsuit, he alleges, first that the letter is, and I quote, 'nonexistent,'" said Honig. "Well, now we know that that's off the table. The letter certainly does exist. And now Trump's going to have to make a fallback argument that we're hearing that, well, maybe this is not his signature. But again, if you look back at The Wall Street Journal, they hedged on that. The original article by The Wall Street Journal does not say definitively this is his signature. In fact, the article actually says the circumstances around the creation of the letter are unclear.

"So Trump has to prove that A) the reporting was false, and that B) it was knowingly or recklessly false. And I think this was a long shot to begin with. And I think the appearance of this letter has made it even longer of a shot" ...

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-lawsuit-2673971831/#

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