Epstein

United States lawmakers have written to Andrew, Britain’s disgraced former prince, requesting that he sit for a formal interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a day after King Charles III formally stripped his younger brother of his royal titles.

Separately, a secluded desert ranch where Epstein once entertained guests is coming under renewed scrutiny in the US state of New Mexico, with two state legislators proposing a “truth commission” to uncover the full extent of the financier’s crimes there.

On Thursday, 16 Democratic Party members of Congress signed a letter addressed to “Mr Mountbatten Windsor”, as Andrew is now known, to participate in a “transcribed interview” with the US House of Representatives oversight committee’s investigation into Epstein.

“The committee is seeking to uncover the identities of Mr Epstein’s co-conspirators and enablers and to understand the full extent of his criminal operations,” the letter read.

“Well-documented allegations against you, along with your longstanding friendship with Mr Epstein, indicate that you may possess knowledge of his activities relevant to our investigation,” it added.

The letter asked Andrew to respond by November 20.

The US Congress has no power to compel testimony from foreigners, making it unlikely Andrew will give evidence.

The letter will be another unwelcome development for the disgraced former prince after a turbulent few weeks.

On October 30, Buckingham Palace said King Charles had “initiated a formal process” to revoke Andrew’s royal status after weeks of pressure to act over his relationship with Epstein – who took his own life in prison in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.

The rare move to strip a British prince or princess of their title – last taken in 1919 after Prince Ernest Augustus sided with Germany during World War I – also meant that Andrew was evicted from his lavish Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor and moved into “private accommodation”.

King Charles formally made the changes with an announcement published on Wednesday in The Gazette – the United Kingdom’s official public record – saying Andrew “shall no longer be entitled to hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of ‘Royal Highness’ and the titular dignity of ‘Prince’”.

Andrew surrendered his use of the title Duke of York earlier in October following new abuse allegations from his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, in her posthumous memoir, which hit shelves last month.

The Democrat lawmakers referenced Giuffre’s memoir in their letter, specifically claims that she feared “retaliation if she made allegations against” Andrew, and that he had asked his personal protection officer to “dig up dirt” on his accuser for a smear campaign in 2011.

“This fear of retaliation has been a persistent obstacle to many of those who were victimised in their fight for justice,” the letter said. “In addition to Mr. Epstein’s crimes, we are investigating any such efforts to silence, intimidate, or threaten victims.”

Giuffre, who alleges that Epstein trafficked her to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, twice when she was just 17, took her own life in Australia in April.

In 2022, Andrew paid Giuffre a multimillion-pound settlement to resolve a civil lawsuit she had levelled against him. Andrew denied the allegations, and he has not been charged with any crime.

On Thursday, Democratic lawmakers also turned the spotlight on Zorro Ranch, proposing to the House of Representatives’ Courts, Corrections and Justice Interim Committee that a commission be created to investigate alleged crimes against young girls at the New Mexico property, which Epstein purchased in 1993.

State Representative Andrea Romero said several survivors of Epstein’s abuse have signalled that sex trafficking activity extended to the secluded desert ranch with a hilltop mansion and private runway in Stanley, about 56 kilometres (35 miles) south of the state capital, Santa Fe.

“This commission will specifically seek the truth about what officials knew, how crimes were unreported or reported, and how the state can ensure that this essentially never happens again,” Romero told a panel of legislators.

“There’s no complete record of what occurred,” she said.

Representative Marianna Anaya, presenting to the committee alongside Romero, said state authorities missed several opportunities over decades to stop Epstein.

“Even after all these years, you know, there are still questions of New Mexico’s role as a state, our roles in terms of oversight and accountability for the survivors who are harmed,” she said.

New Mexico laws allowed Epstein to avoid registering locally as a sex offender long after he was required to register in Florida, where he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.

Republican Representative Andrea Reeb said she believed New Mexicans “have a right to know what happened at this ranch” and she didn’t feel the commission was going to be a “big political thing”.

To move forward, approval will be needed from the state House when the legislature convenes in January.

Oct. 17 (UPI) — Prince Andrew, facing scrutiny of his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Friday said he will relinquish his royal titles, including Duke of York, and end his membership of the Order of Garter.

Andrew, who made the announcement after meeting with his brother, King Charles III, will only retain the title of prince, which is required because he was born the son of a queen, Elizabeth II.

Andrew, 65, remains eighth in line to the throne. His other siblings are Princess Anne and Prince Edward.

The last time a duke title was taken away was more than 100 years ago, historian Anthony Seldon told BBC News TV. In 1919, Prince Charles Edward, who was one of Queen Victoria‘s grandsons, lost the title of Duke of Albany for fighting on the German side during World War I.

“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” Prince Andrew said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace. “I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.”

In 2019, he was stripped of his military titles and positions on several charities.

Andrew has denied accusations against him by Virginia Giuffre in a 2015 lawsuit, and has never been arrested in connection with the abuse allegations. They reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement in 2022.

“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me,” Andrew said on Friday. “As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”

Other members of the royal family were consulted during the discussions, including William, the Prince of Wales, and son of Charles, CNN reported.

“Things are simply not going away,” Robert Hardman, who has written a biography of KingCharles, told the BBC.

“Nothing really has changed constitutionally. What has changed is that he’s not going to use these titles.”

Andrew’s former wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, will be known as “Sarah Ferguson.”

Their daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will not be affected by the decision.

Andrew will no longer attend any royal family’s Christmas events, a source told CNN, but will continue to reside at the Royal Lodge in Windsor in a private tenancy agreement.

Giuffre, who died on April 25 by suicide at 41, alleged Epstein trafficked her and forced her to have sex with friends in 2001, including Andrew. She said Andrew was aware she was underage at 17.

Giuffre also said Andrew sexually abused her on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, his mansion in Manhattan and at his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London.

The Guardian this week published extracts from the memoir of Giuffre. She claimed the prince “believed that having sex with me was his birthright.”

Andrew also faced scrutiny of his links to an alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo.

A tribunal hearing in December upheld an earlier decision to bar Yang from the British. It was revealed Yang was authorized to act on Andrew’s behalf during business meetings with potential Chinese investors in Britain.

LONDON — Prince Andrew said Friday he is giving up his royal title of the Duke of York and other honors after his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein returned to the headlines.

Andrew, the younger brother to King Charles III, said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace that “the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family.”

“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me,” Andrew said in his statement Friday. “As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”

The news came in the wake of the release of excerpts of an upcoming posthumous memoir from Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and had sex with Andrew when she was 17.

It’s the latest fall from grace for the 65-year-old prince, who had already stepped down from public life in 2019 over his links to Epstein despite his denials of any wrongdoing.

Giuffre died by suicide in April at the age of 41. In the memoir, she details alleged encounters with Prince Andrew, who she sued in 2021, claiming that they had sex when she was 17. Andrew denied her claims and said he didn’t recall having met her.

Andrew, once second in line to the British throne, has long been a source of tabloid fodder because of his links to Epstein, other questionable characters and money woes.

His attempt to refute Giuffre’s allegations backfired during a November 2019 BBC interview. Viewers saw a prince who proffered curious rebuttals — such as disputing Giuffre’s recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring — and showed no empathy for the women who said Epstein abused them.

Within days of the interview, Andrew stepped down from his royal duties. Giuffre sued him and the case was settled in 2022 for an undisclosed sum. A statement filed in court said that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a sex trafficker and Giuffre was “an established victim of abuse.”

As well as no longer using the title of the Duke of York, a long-established title that was gifted to him by his mother Queen Elizabeth II at his wedding to Sarah Ferguson in 1986, Andrew will also give up other titles: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. He will remain a prince, which he has been entitled to since birth.

Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson will also no longer use the title of Duchess of York. Their children, Beatrice and Eugenie, will remain princesses.

Andrew’s chaotic marriage to Ferguson, widely known as Fergie, lasted a decade though the two remain close, living together at a 30-room mansion near Windsor Castle. He has long been criticized for his opulent, globe-trotting lifestyle.

Andrew had been the poster boy of the royal family for many years, and his romantic links to a number of models and starlets during his youth were widely chronicled in the British press.

His star status within the royal family was at its peak after he flew in multiple missions as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy during the 1982 Falklands War when British forces sailed to the south Atlantic to eject the Argentine military that had invaded the U.K. overseas territories.

Lawless and Pylas write for the Associated Press.

Last month, in a special election, voters in southern Arizona chose Adelita Grijalva to succeed her late father in Congress.

The outcome in the solidly Democratic district was never in doubt. The final tally wasn’t remotely close.

Grijalva, a Tucson native and former Pima County supervisor, crushed her Republican opponent, 69% to 29%.

The people spoke, loudly and emphatically, and normally that would have been that. Grijalva would have assumed office by now, allowing her to serve her orphaned constituents by filling a House seat that’s been vacant since her father died in March, after representing portions of Arizona for more than 20 years.

But these are not normal times. These are times when everything, including the time of day and state of the weather, has become politically charged.

And so Grijalva is residing in limbo. Or, rather, at her campaign headquarters in Tucson, since she’s been locked out of her congressional office on Capitol Hill — the one her father used, which now has her name on a plaque outside. She’s been denied entry by Speaker Mike Johnson.

“It’s pretty horrible,” Grijalva said in an interview, “because regardless of whether I have an official office or not, constituents elected me and people are reaching out to me through every social media outlet.

“‘I have a question,’” they tell Grijalva, or “‘I’m afraid I’m going to get fired’ or ‘We need some sort of assistance.’”

All she can do is refer them to Arizona’s two U.S. senators.

House members are scattered across the country during the partial government shutdown and Johnson said he can’t possibly administer the oath of office to Grijalva during a pro forma session, a time when normal business — legislative debate, roll call votes — is not being conducted. “We have to have everybody here,” Johnson said, “and we’ll swear her in.”

But, lo, dear reader, are you sitting down?

It turns out there were two Republican lawmakers elected this year in special elections, each, as it happens from Florida. Both were sworn in the very next day … during pro forma sessions!

Shocked? Don’t be. In the Trump era, rules and standards are applied in flagrantly different ways, depending on which political party is involved.

But partisanship aside, what possible reason would Johnson have to stall Grijalva’s swearing-in? Here’s a clue: It involves a convicted sex trafficker and former buddy of President Trump, whose foul odor trails him like the reeking carcass of a beached whale.

Yes, it’s the late Jeffrey Epstein!

“On my very first day in Congress, I’ll sign the bipartisan discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files,” Grijalva said on the eve of her landslide election. “This is as much about fulfilling Congress’ duty as a constitutional check on this administration as it is about demanding justice for survivors.”

Jeffrey Epstein. Gone but very much unforgotten.

For years, his perversions have been an obsession among those, mainly on the right, who believe a “deep state” cover-up has protected the rich and powerful who partnered with women procured by Epstein. After Trump’s marionette attorney general, Pam Bondi, suggested a client list was sitting on her desk, awaiting release, the Justice Department abruptly reversed course.

There was no such list, it announced, and Epstein definitely committed suicide and wasn’t, as the conspiracy-minded suggest, murdered by those wishing to silence him.

Trump, who palled around with Epstein, urged everyone to move along. Naturally, Johnson fell into immediate lockstep. (Bondi, for her part, tap-danced through a contentious Senate hearing last week, repeatedly sidestepping questions about the Epstein-Trump relationship, including whether photos exist of the president alongside “half-naked young women.”)

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a GOP lawmaker and persistent Trump irritant, and Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna have led the bipartisan effort to force the Justice Department to cough up the government’s unclassified records related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend and fellow sex trafficker.

The discharge petition, overriding the objections of Trump and Johnson and forcing the House to vote on release of the files, needs at least 218 signatures, which constitutes a majority of the 435 members. The petition has been stalled for weeks, just one signature shy of ratification.

Enter Grijalva.

Or not.

Johnson, who may be simply delaying an inevitable House vote to curry Trump’s favor, insists the Epstein matter has “nothing to do with” his refusal to seat Grivalja.

Righto.

And planets don’t revolve around the sun, hot air doesn’t rise and gravity doesn’t bring falling leaves to Earth.

More than 200 Democratic House members have affixed their signatures to the petition, along with four Republicans — Massie and Reps. Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The latter three are all MAGA stalwarts who have bravely broken ranks with Trump to stand up for truth and the victims of Epstein’s ravages.

“Aren’t we all against convicted pedophiles and anyone who enables them?” Greene asked in an interview with Axios.

Most are, one would assume. But apparently not everybody.

WASHINGTON  — Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi struck a defiant tone Tuesday during a Senate hearing where she dodged a series of questions about brewing scandals that have dogged her agency.

Bondi, a Trump loyalist, refused to discuss her conversations with the White House about the recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and the deployment of federal troops to Democrat-run cities.

She deflected questions about an alleged bribery scheme involving the president’s border advisor and declined to elaborate on her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

In many instances, Bondi’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee devolved into personal attacks against Democrats, who expressed dismay at their inability to get her to answer their inquiries.

“This is supposed to be an oversight hearing in which members of Congress can get serious answers to serious questions about the cover-up of corruption about the prosecution of the president’s enemies,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said toward the end of the nearly five-hour hearing. “When will it be that the members of this committee on a bipartisan basis demand answers to those questions?”

Her testimony came as the Justice Department faces increased accusations that it is being weaponized against President Trump’s political foes.

It marked a continuation of what has become a hallmark of not just Bondi, but most of Trump’s top officials. When pressed on potential scandals that the president has taken great pains to publicly avoid, they almost universally turn to one tactic: ignore and attack the questioner.

That strategy was shown in an exchange between Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who wanted to know who decided to close an investigation into Trump border advisor Tom Homan. Homan reportedly accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents after indicating he could get them government contracts. Bondi declined to say and shifted the focus to Padilla.

“I wish that you loved your state of California as much as you hate President Trump,” Bondi said. “We’d be in really good shape then because violent crime in California is currently 35% higher than the national average.”

In between partisan attacks, the congressional hearing allowed Bondi to boast about her eight months in office. She said her focus has been on combating illegal immigration, violent crime and restoring public trust in the Justice Department, which she said Biden-era officials weaponized against Trump.

“They wanted to take President Trump off the playing field,” she said about the effort to indict Trump. “This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people’s faith in our law enforcement system. We will work to earn that back every single day. We are returning to our core mission of fighting real crime.”

She defended the administration’s deployment of federal troops to Washington, D.C., and Chicago, where she said troops had been sent on Tuesday. Bondi declined to say whether the White House consulted her on the deployment of troops to American cities but said the effort is meant to “protect” citizens from violent crime.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) asked about the legal justification for the military shooting vessels crossing the Carribbean Sea off Venezuela. The administration has said the boats are carrying drugs, but Coons told Bondi that “Congress has never authorized such a use of military force.”

“It’s unclear to me how the administration has concluded that the strikes are legal,” Coons said.

Bondi told Coons she would not discuss the legal advice her department has given to the president on the matter but said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “is a narcoterrorist,” and that “drugs coming from Venezuela are killing our children at record levels.”

Coons said he was “gravely concerned” that she was not leading a department that is making decisions that are in “keeping with the core values of the Constitution.” As another example, he pointed to Trump urging her to prosecute his political adversaries, such as Comey.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) the top Democrat on the committee, raised a similar concern at the beginning of the hearing, saying Bondi has “systematically weaponized our nation’s leading law enforcement agency to protect President Trump and his allies.”

“In eight short months, you have fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain on American history,” Durbin said. “It will take decades to recover.”

A 12-foot statue depicting President Trump holding hands with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning and was removed by the National Park Service less than 24 hours later.

The saga, which made the rounds on late-night TV this week, did not stop there.

On Thursday, the group responsible for creating the statue — an anonymous collective of “satirical activists” called the Secret Handshake — said the National Park Service denied a second permit to reinstall the controversial statue, which featured a plaque reading, “We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein.”

“The statue was removed because it was not compliant with the permit issued,” Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace told CNN, citing a height discrepancy.

The statue, spray-painted bronze and titled “Best Friends Forever,” was removed on Wednesday at 5:30 a.m., said Carol Flaisher, a D.C.-based location manager who had been contracted by Secret Handshake to obtain the appropriate permit for the statue.

It’s a job Flaisher says she’s been doing for film and television throughout her 40-year career, and she has never seen a permitted display on the National Mall removed, she says. If there are issues with the permit, the NPS is required to give the applicant 24-hour notice to fix the error before taking action. That notice was not given, Flaisher says.

“We’ve been doing this for so long. I’ve never had one rejected, ever, ever, ever,” said Flaisher. “I’ve never been thrown off of the property. I’ve never heard of such a thing. And they did it at 5:30 in the morning. … I wonder why they did that.”

On Wednesday around noon, Flaisher says she put in an application for a second permit — this time for a “demonstration” one. That type of permit usually has a 24-hour turnaround, and Flaisher says an employee at NPS told her she would have the new permit in about that time frame.

While Flaisher was trying to obtain a second permit, members of Secret Handshake were working to retrieve their art.

The statue “Best Friends Forever,” featuring President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, was damaged when it was removed Wednesday morning by the National Park Service.

(Secret Handshake)

The statue was not treated kindly upon its removal, said the rep from Secret Handshake, who requested not to be named in keeping with the anonymous nature of the group’s activism. The statue was in several pieces, with heads and knees broken in half. They then spent several hours repairing, rebuilding and “gluing it together” the rep said. “It looks pretty cool, to be honest. It got kind of messed up, but in an interesting way.”

The Times reviewed a video taken by the group’s security that shows workers toppling the statue in the dark and removing it.

“Free speech. There goes Trump, there goes Epstein,” a passerby can be heard saying. “Taxpayers’ dollars.”

The damaged statue was taped back together.

(Secret Handshake)

Throughout Thursday, the Secret Handshake rep said, “we were told [of the permit], it’s approved, it’s approved, it’s approved.”

Flaisher called a little after noon and was told that the permit had not been issued, but the person she spoke with did not know why. An hour later she tried again and this time she was told, “‘No, you will not be issued a permit,’” she says. She pushed back and asked who she could talk to, but nobody would speak with her she says.

“Absolute silence. No one’s called me back with anything. No answer. You don’t have a permit. There is no reason,” said Flaisher. “It must have come from a very high place because nobody’s talking.”

The NPS has not yet responded to a request for comment about why a second permit was denied or why Secret Handshake was not given 24-hour notice before the statue was initially removed.

The rep for Secret Handshake, which has been responsible for four other political satirical statues on the National Mall, including “Poop Desk,” a bronze art installation featuring a pile of feces on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, says the group is currently considering what to do next with its repaired “Best Friends” statue.

The rep said the group hires security to protect its work at the mall, as mandated by the permit, and that their security was in place Thursday afternoon, getting ready for the statue to be installed for the second time.

“They took video … and the amount of unmarked cars, Park Service cars, city police and giant trucks ready to haul it away if we decided to place it down anyway. … Wow. They were ready,” the rep said. “There were at least 10 vehicles, I would say.”

The question of whether the statue will be allowed to be replaced comes in the midst of a fierce debate about free speech in America that was kicked off by ABC’s suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after the comedian weighed in on the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Sept. 24 (UPI) — The National Park Service on Wednesday removed bronze-colored statues of President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands and frolicking on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The papier-mache and paint statues were erected on Tuesday by an anonymous group called The Secret Handshake, UPI reported. The statues were near U.S. governmental buildings with the Capitol in the backdrop.

“We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein,” the middle plaque reads. “There must be more to life than having everything.”

A member of the group behind the statue told MSNBC that U.S. Park Police took down the statue around 5:30 a.m. EDT, although they had a permit that allowed them to remain through Sunday evening. CNN also confirmed the removal.

The group said it had initially been told it would be given 24 hours’ notice if the administration wanted it removed.

“Instead, they showed up in the middle of the night without notice and physically toppled the statue, broke it and took it away,” the group said.

The permit is for a 6-foot-tall statue, but the display is taller than that when combined with its base, which is almost as tall.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the Park Service, told MSNBC, “the statue was removed because it was not compliant with the permit issued.”

In a statement to Time magazine, the White House said, “Liberals are free to waste their money however they see fit — but it’s not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep.”

Trump is displayed with another plaque quoting the infamous 50th birthday card to Epstein, which reads in part, “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Epstein’s plaque reads: “Nor will I, since I also know what it is. Yes, we do come to think of it. As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.”

Epstein died by suicide in jail on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking. He had been convicted on state charges of soliciting prostitution in Florida in 2008.

Tourists stopped before the statues out of curiosity and lined up to take photos.

“I think it’s a really good reminder about how artists are the ones that always push back on fascists first, on fascist governments,” D.C. resident Matt Gordon told UPI on Tuesday.

“This is a hoot,” D.C. resident Lelaina Brandet also told UPI. “It seems there’s other daily distractions, whether calling a marginalized group a terrorist organization or attacking some random vote to distract from what pretty much everybody from both sides wants — which is to see the release of the Epstein files.”

One week ago, a 12-foot golden Trump statue whose faceplate called him the “Bitcoin president” was displayed anonymously at the same location for about a day before being taken down.

“It is great to have these artists that keep pushing the focus of ‘Hey, let’s not forget this is what America wants right now.’ We love it. It’s fantastic,” resident Brandet said.

In 2024, the group’s “The Resolute Desk” and “The Donald J. Trump Enduring Flame” statues went viral. In June, their “Dictator Approved” statue and another of a golden television appeared.

“Before this, they’ve never been anything but friendly to work with,” Patrick and Carol Flaisher, an independent contractor who files the group’s permits, told CNN.

The group said they were able to view the removed statues. Trump’s head was split in half.

“It’s a great example of where we’re headed in this country when it comes to freedom of speech,” Patrick said.

Last week, a giant banner with Trump and Epstein was unveiled on the lawn outside Windsor Castle, where Trump was hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The banner was removed before Trump arrived in Britain.

Protesters then projected images of them on the walls of Windsor Castle. Also targeted was Prince Andrew, who was associated with Epstein.

On a plaque, unknown artists said it was displayed ‘in honour of friendship month’ for the two men.

A mysterious bronze statue called “Best Friends Forever” has popped up on the east end of the National Mall in Washington, DC, showing United States President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, as his past connection to the deceased sex offender continues to rumble on in public discourse.

On Tuesday, the satiric pop-up statue, which shows the two men holding hands with one leg in the air, was captioned, “In honour of friendship month”.

“We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend’, Jeffrey Epstein,” a plaque on the installation read.

While there was no immediate claim to the statue, the artwork follows a series of installations that have been critical of Trump in Washington, displayed by an anonymous group.

In June, another anti-Trump statue popped up on the National Mall, this time titled “Dictator Approved”, and showcased an eight-foot-tall sculpture with a gold thumbs up crushing the head of the Statue of Liberty.

But in response to the statue, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Washington Post that “Liberals are free to waste their money however they see fit”.

“But it’s not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep,” Jackson wrote in an email.

Trump’s connection to Epstein, a former sex offender who died in jail in 2019, has caused a furore among his MAGA base since Trump returned to office in January, infuriating him, with more pressure on case files related to Epstein to be released.

Earlier in September, a US congressional panel released a copy of an alleged “birthday book” that was given to Epstein to celebrate his then-50th birthday.

Within the 238-page book containing messages and photos with friends of the former financier, there was a letter with a signature similar to Trump’s.

Trump has denied that he penned a lascivious birthday message to Epstein amid the sustained scrutiny of his links to the convicted sex offender. Trump is also suing The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for their allegations and coverage of his involvement with Epstein.

Vice President JD Vance slammed accusations of Trump’s involvement in the letter and accused Democrats of “concocting another fake scandal” to “smear President Trump with lies”.

The man accused of opening fire on the lobby of a Sacramento ABC television station cited the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case as a motive and promised several members of the Trump administration would be “next,” according to a federal court filing made public Monday.

Anibal Hernandez-Santana, 64, is charged with multiple weapons offenses and interfering with a radio or communication station for firing several bullets at the window of ABC10’s offices in Sacramento around 1 p.m. on Friday, according to a criminal complaint.

Hernandez-Santana was arrested the same day as the shooting. During a search of his car, detectives found a note that read “For hiding Epstein & ignoring red flags,” according to the complaint filed by prosecutors in the Eastern District of California.

The note referenced FBI Director Kash Patel, his second-in-command Dan Bongino and U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, reading “They’re next. — C.K. from above.”

Sacramento Dist. Atty. Thien Ho said he believed the “C.K.” portion of the note was a reference to Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who was killed by a sniper in Utah this month. In an interview on Monday, Ho said police also found a book titled “The Cult Of Trump” in Hernandez-Santana’s vehicle.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento said she could not comment beyond what was contained in court documents.

Patel said “targeted acts of violence are unacceptable and will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law,” in a post on X.

Hernandez-Santana was born in Puerto Rico and was not registered as a Republican or Democrat, according to voting records. The Trump administration has faced increasing criticism from both sides of the political spectrum to disclose more information about those who did business with Epstein, the financier charged with trafficking young girls to rich and powerful men before his death by suicide in a federal lockup in 2019.

Hernandez-Santana was a retired lobbyist, according to Ho, who said the shooting was clearly “politically motivated.”

Hernandez-Santana first registered as a lobbyist in 2001. His clients included an environmental justice group, the California Catholic Conference and the California Federation of Teachers, according to state lobbying records.

The day of the shooting, Ho said, a protest was scheduled to take place outside ABC10’s offices over their parent company’s decision to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over comments he made about the way Republicans have reacted to Kirk’s killing. Kimmel’s suspension was lifted Monday and he is expected to return to the air Tuesday,

Ho said it was clear the TV station was not a “random target.”

“When it comes to public safety it’s not about going right or left, it’s about moving forward … clearly he was motivated by current political events,” Ho said.

Hernandez-Santana did not have a significant criminal history and was not known to local law enforcement before the incident, according to the prosecutor.

Prosecutors said Hernandez-Santana fired four times at the ABC station, once near the building and three additional times at a window in the station’s lobby, according to court records. No one was injured, but there were employees inside at the time.

In addition to the message invoking members of Trump’s Cabinet, Sacramento Police detectives also found a day planner that contained a handwritten note to “Do the Next Scary Thing,” on the date of the attack, court records show.

In a court filing seeking to deny Hernandez-Santana bail, federal prosecutors said the note referencing Patel, Bongino and Bondi “indicates that he may have been planning additional acts of violence.”

Ho has also charged Santana-Hernandez with assault with a firearm and shooting at an inhabited dwelling. He was expected to make court appearances in both cases on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney.

Santana-Hernandez faces five years in federal prison and an additional 17 years in state prison if convicted as charged, according to Ho.

“When someone brazenly fires into a news station full of people in the middle of the day, it is not only an attack on innocent employees but also an attack on the news media and our community’s sense of safety,” Ho said in a statement.

Times staff writer Laura Nelson and researcher Cary Schneider contributed to this report.

Sept. 19 (UPI) — Former U.S. attorney for Florida’s Southern District Alex Acosta testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during a closed deposition on Friday.

Acosta arrived for the deposition hearing regarding the 2008 Jeffrey Epstein case on Friday morning and ignored reporters’ questions while entering the committee room in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, according to ABC News.

“We want to know what went on during the prosecution, when many believe that Epstein was awarded a sweetheart deal,” Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told media on Friday.

“We’re going to ask a lot of questions about this,” Comer added. “This is going to be a pretty hard-hitting deposition.”

Friday’s deposition hearing occurred after the House committee on Monday obtained files related to the case, including a “birthday book” note alleged to have been written by President Donald Trump decades ago.

The president has denied writing the note and said it is a forgery.

Acosta was Trump’s Labor Department secretary for more than two years during the president’s first term.

He resigned amid controversy over his handling of the Epstein case as new charges were entered for alleged sex trafficking and other related offenses in 2019, CNN reported.

While he was a U.S. attorney, Acosta negotiated Epstein’s 2008 plea deal that resulted in the former hedge fund manager pleading guilty to state charges in Florida in exchange for avoiding potential federal charges.

The plea deal required Epstein to serve 13 months in thePalm Beach County jail and register as a sex offender, but he had work release.

Although Epstein did not face federal charges, Florida officials had asked Acosta to review the case after accusing a state prosecutor of mishandling the matter, according to a 2020 NPR report.

Epstein committed suicide in a New York City jail ahead of his federal trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.

The House committee recently released more than 33,000 pages of Epstein file documents and said more will be released.

The documents released so far are redacted to protect witnesses and block child abuse materials.

Activists unfurled a giant photograph of US President Donald Trump with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein near Windsor Castle on Tuesday, where King Charles is set to host him during his state visit.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he would “never” have appointed Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to the US if he had known the full details of his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

In his first comments since sacking Lord Mandelson, Sir Keir said the Labour peer went through a proper due diligence process before his appointment, but he added: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”

Sir Keir gave public backing to Lord Mandelson in the Commons on Wednesday only to sack him the following day.

Opposition MPs will get a chance to put further pressure on the government after the Speaker granted the Tories an emergency debate on the appointment on Tuesday.

Emails reported by Bloomberg showed supportive messages Lord Mandelson sent to Epstein in 2008 following his guilty plea.

The leaked emails included passages in which Lord Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He is also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

Speaking to reporters, Sir Keir said the messages showed Lord Mandelson “was not only questioning but wanting to challenge the conviction of Epstein at the time”.

Lord Mandelson’s emails “cut across the whole approach that I’ve taken on violence against women and girls for many years and this government’s”, he added.

The emails showed “the nature and extent of the relationship that Peter Mandelson had with Epstein was far different to what I had understood to be the position when I appointed him.”

Sir Keir added he was “not at all” satisfied with Lord Mandelson’s responses to questions “put to him by government officials”.

The prime minister has faced questions about his judgment in appointing the peer, whose friendship with Epstein was public knowledge, in the first place.

Sir Keir insisted he did not know what was in the emails when he defended the US ambassador at Prime Minister’s Questions but said he knew Foreign Office officials had asked Lord Mandelson questions about the email.

The scandal, coming so soon after Angela Rayner’s resignation as deputy prime minister, has encouraged some Labour MPs to become more vocal about their frustrations with the prime minister’s leadership and the wider Downing Street operation.

On Monday Sir Keir faced a further blow, when one of his senior aides, Paul Ovenden, resigned after the leaking of explicit messages about veteran MP Diane Abbott from eight years ago.

The debate in Parliament could prove damaging for Sir Keir’s efforts to draw a line under the scandal ahead of US President Donald Trump’s state visit this week, and the Labour conference at the end of the month.

Labour MPs are expressing public and private frustration with the prime minister’s leadership.

The Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry, has demanded the government give evidence on how Lord Mandelson was cleared and appointed.

Labour backbencher Richard Burgon told Radio 4’s Today programme Sir Keir would be “gone” if May’s elections in Scotland, Wales and parts of England go badly for Labour.

The Conservatives have also demanded the prime minister release documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment.

In the letter to the prime minister, Tory MP Alex Burghart questioned what and when Sir Keir knew of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein before defending the former ambassador during Prime Minister’s Questions last Wednesday.

SACRAMENTO — Hello and happy Monday.

Pigs are flying and Satan has on a puffer jacket. I know these things because the impossible is happening — I am writing about why Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert are right.

And why California’s Republican congressional representatives should be ashamed and shamed.

You may know these women as beacons of the far right, maybe even the fringe-right, in Congress. Hailing from Georgia, South Carolina and Colorado, respectively, they have dabbled in QAnon conspiracy theories, including about sex trafficking and powerful pedophiles, among other questionable actions.

But I’ll say this for the trio — they’ve stayed true to their beliefs, even under direct pressure from the White House. So a (limited) shout-out to Greene, Mace and Boebert.

What am I talking about? Jeffrey Edward Epstein, of course (I think he committed enough crimes to earn his middle name included, serial killer style).

Boebert, Mace and Greene are three of only four Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who have signed a discharge petition (a kind of work-around to bypass leadership) to release the full Epstein files, supposedly containing a trove of information on men who bought and sold sex with teenage girls.

“These are some of the richest, most powerful people in the world that could sue these women into poverty and homelessness,” Greene said at a recent news conference with some of the victims. “Yeah, it’s a scary thing to name names, but I will tell you, I’m not afraid to name names, and so if they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol on the House floor, and I’ll say every damn name that abused these women. I can do that for them.”

And, to my immense shock at having something in common with Greene, I say — that is how it’s done, lady. You go.

Not a single Republican House member from California has backed releasing the Epstein files. Every California Democratic representative has signed. So let’s talk about that.

I am sick of Epstein. Why are you writing this?

Like most of you, I too am tired of hearing endless political chatter about Epstein.

For the blessedly uniformed among you, Epstein was an extremely rich dude. No one is quite sure where all that money came from, but he apparently used a great deal of it to buy influence with powerful men, and sex traffic underage girls — allegedly children as young as 11 .

He died by suicide while in jail in 2019 (lots of conspiracy theories on whether it was in fact suicide) but in 2021 his paramour-partner Ghislaine Noelle Maxwell was also convicted of child sex trafficking and other offenses.

Epstein and Maxwell have ties to Donald Trump, including a much-discussed “birthday book” that honestly I do not care about other than to say, “Ick.” That has made the whole thing an endless political brouhaha.

But many of the many victims of Epstein and Maxwell have called for their information to be released by the Justice Department, which holds more than 100,000 pages of the investigation. They, like survivors of sexual assault everywhere, want accountability, if justice remains elusive. They want names named. They want to stop being afraid, stop being stuck by their pain and their past, and allow the world to decide, if courts won’t, just how much truth they are telling.

These are brave women who were brutalized as children for the pleasure of men with money. They have a right to have their stories known if that’s what they choose.

This is not politics. This is decency.

The California problem

Like Greene, I’m willing to name some names. Here they are — California’s GOP representatives in the House:

Releasing the Epstein files requires only one of them to sign the discharge petition. Just one of these fine representatives from the Golden State could do the right thing, stand for a bipartisan value that Californians of both parties hold — sex trafficking is bad — and show what real leadership looks like.

Anyone? Anyone?

“If Epstein survivors want this information released, it should be released. These women have had the courage to speak out and it’s infuriating that Congress would block release of information — they’d rather help with a cover-up than stand with survivors,” state Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento) told me.

She’s a former state Justice Department prosecutor who specialized in trafficking, and has worked on controversial bipartisan legislation at the Capitol with Republican Sen. Shannon Grove of Bakersfield. That legislation earned her the ire of her own party, but on an issue this important, she did what she believed was right over what was easy.

“Protecting kids and standing up for survivors of human trafficking should not be a partisan issue and in California, we’ve shown it doesn’t have to be,” Krell said.

In fact, the discharge petition in the House is a bipartisan effort — introduced by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and our own Ro Khanna of California, a Democrat.

In particular, I’d like to call out Kiley for his hypocrisy. Recently, he introduced a bipartisan sex trafficking bill in Congress that’s a smart idea — the National Human Trafficking Database Act, which would create a database at the Department of Justice that tracks cases across the country. He did it with Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga). Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are carrying the bill in the Senate.

“We must do everything we can to prevent human trafficking and having the necessary tools at our disposal will bring us closer to stopping this awful crime,” Kiley said in a press release.

Huh.

Seems like Kiley gets the issue. Seems like he’s saying the right things. And for a guy about to be gerrymandered out of his own district — with his own party not seeming to care — he doesn’t have much to lose by doing the right thing and signing the discharge petition. My email to his office on the topic remains unanswered.

Liz Stein, an Epstein and Maxwell survivor who spoke at the news conference, said (as reported by the 19th News) that her life has never been the same since the abuse started. Since then, it has “felt like someone shut off the lights to my soul.”

There. Is. No. Excuse.

“This is not a partisan issue, but an American issue,” New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said in a press release. “To my Republican colleagues, if these heartbreaking stories aren’t enough, sign the petition for your daughters and for all the women in your lives that you would want protected from pedophiles. Because it’s not just about Epstein, but about all the women and children who are trafficked, abused, sexually assaulted, and ignored in their pain. The survivors today told their stories to not only push for the Epstein files to be released, but for a better future where women and girls are believed and supported, and abusers are held accountable.”

I can’t say it any more directly. Hiding behind politics on this one is the act of a coward.

If you won’t stand up against the rape of children, what do you stand for?

What else you should be reading:

The must-read: L.A. fires burned their block. For each, the disaster was just beginning.
The what happened: Lawyers fear 1,000 children from Central America, dozens in California, are at risk of being deported
The L.A. Times special: What the writings on the bullet casings from Charlie Kirk’s killer might mean

Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Fox News doesn’t want to talk about the crude doodle of a naked woman, with its creepy message printed across her breasts and torso, and a signature — “Donald” — in her pubic area.

And it certainly doesn’t want to draw attention to a newly released photo of the convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein holding an oversized check signed “DJTRUMP,” with a caption that reads, “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [female’s name redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.”

While just about everyone has had something to say about the most damning documents yet to come out of the so-called Epstein files, America’s No. 1 cable news network has opted to sit this one out.

Questions about President Trump’s shared history with the nation’s most notorious sex offender shot to the top of news feeds Tuesday after the Republican-led House Oversight Committee released documents to the public that it had subpoenaed from the Epstein estate. The material included notes, drawings and photos from friends and associates to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003.

Donald Trump, his future wife Melania, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 2000.

(Davidoff Studios Photography / Getty Images)

The “body art” letter that appears to be written by Trump features this bizarre, imaginary conversation:

Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything.
Donald: Yes, there is, but I won’t tell you what it is.
Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I already know what it is.
Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: Yes, we do come to think of it.
Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?
Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.
Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.

Fox News on Tuesday suppressed the skeezy birthday note like a dark family secret and instead focused on safer, more comfortable subject matter, like Bill Clinton. But there wasn’t much to say since the birthday greeting that appeared to have been signed by the former president lacked drawings of naked females or implications about buying girls and/or women for sex. The short passage praised Epstein’s “childlike curiosity.” Thankfully, Fox had other breaking stories to chase.

Host Sean Hannity focused on a deadly North Carolina train stabbing and how it implicated Democrats’ “woke” criminal policies. Earlier in the day, Fox News was busy plumbing the depths of the Biden “autopen” scandal after a “bombshell report.”

Fox News’ website was equally as busy avoiding the nation’s top story. It led with “Charlotte mayor scores primary reelection victory amid national backlash over gruesome train murder” and another breaking story: “Hellfire missile bounces off mysterious orb in stunning UAP footage shown to Congress.”

Its story on the scandalous documents? “Inside Epstein’s infamous ‘birthday book’: Clinton’s note, poolside candids and bizarre animal pics.” The piece was toward the bottom of the page, tucked away like dirty laundry. It never once mentioned Trump.

Ghislaine Maxwell compiled the birthday book, collecting sentiments from Epstein’s friends and then gifting the album to her high-rolling financier bestie. Less than two decades later, she would be convicted of sex trafficking, among other charges. Epstein died in jail of a reported suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on similar charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term.

Trump said Tuesday when asked to respond to the birthday letter, “I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday during a briefing that “the president did not write this letter. He didn’t sign this letter.” She said the administration would be open to a handwriting expert reviewing the signature on the letter.

But several news organizations have beaten them to it and compared the signature on the Epstein letter against Trump’s signature on other documents, and found them to be similar.

The alleged Trump letter was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in July, when the president denied writing it and said it was “a fake thing.” He filed a lawsuit against the paper’s publisher, reporters and executives, including News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch.

The album also contains messages that appear to be from other notable personalities, including the current U.K. ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson; Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who was part of a legal team representing Trump during his first impeachment trial; and billionaire retail magnate Les Wexner.

The caption under the novelty-check photo appears to be written by Joel Pashcow, a Mar-a-Lago club member and former chairman of a New York real estate company. The woman’s name and photo are redacted in the caption and the image. Lawyers for Epstein’s estate removed the names and photos of women and minors who appeared in the book so possible victims of Epstein could not be identified.

Other drawings in the book make Trump’s alleged contribution look docile. They include a queasy illustration of Epstein handing out balloons to young girls. Fox did mention the drawings of Epstein being massaged by several topless women around a pool, and the one of a zebra having sex with a lion. How much time until it’s suggested that it could be the work of Biden’s autopen? 5,4,3…

A SUSPECTED Epstein victim claims she met Prince Andrew, sat on the Queen’s throne, and was taken inside Buckingham Palace, according to bombshell files from Jeffrey Epstein’s so-called “birthday book.”

The woman – whose name has been redacted – penned a glowing tribute to the disgraced financier for his 50th birthday in 2003, saying he had transformed her life.

9

9

9

In the entry, the unidentified woman described how she had once been “a 22-year-old divorcee working as a hostess in a hotel restaurant” before meeting Epstein.

It is unclear who the woman is – but she describes the same circumstances of being lured in and jetted around the world that many of Epstein’s victims experienced.

She claimed: “I have met Prince Andrew, President Clinton, Sultan of Brunei, Donald Trump, Antonio Verglas, Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour, Peter Brant, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, brilliant scientists, lawyers and business men.”

The alleged victim went further, boasting she had “seen the private quarters of Buckingham Palace, sat on the Queen of England’s throne” and taken part in lavish adventures ranging from skydiving to attending a Victoria’s Secret fashion show.

The entry was accompanied by bikini shots of the woman on a beach – captioned in handwriting: “And thought you might like.. Some bikini Shots! Bye-bye! XX”.

It also featured a photo of a man and woman walking arm in arm with his hands stuffed down the back of her trousers.

A bold “Thank you!!!” was scrawled underneath.

In the same entry, she praised Epstein directly: “Jeffrey, there are no words to describe how much I appreciate and admire you.

“I believe you are the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met and can’t believe how lucky I am to have become a part of your life.”

The explosive claims were made public as part of a new tranche of documents released by the US House Oversight Committee.

It includes Epstein’s will, his infamous address book, and the 238-page “birthday book.”

The book, compiled for Epstein’s milestone birthday, contains messages and photographs from around 40 friends, colleagues and associates.

They were divided into categories such as “friends,” “business,” and “science.”

But names under “family” and “girl friends” were redacted.

Committee chairman James Comer said the release was part of a broader push to obtain full transparency around Epstein’s network, though he accused Democrats of “cherry-picking documents” for political purposes.

9

9

9

9

Other high-profile names appear in the collection, including entries attributed to Bill Clinton and Lord Peter Mandelson, who has since said he “very much regrets” ever being introduced to Epstein.

Epstein – the convicted sex offender whose connections stretched from royalty to Hollywood – died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

Prince Andrew has long denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

The “birthday book” revelations add fresh controversy to an already notorious royal link: it is known that Ghislaine Maxwell once posed on a throne at Buckingham Palace and that she and Epstein were invited to Balmoral, the late Queen’s Scottish retreat, as guests of Prince Andrew.

As for Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate from whom the “birthday book” originated, she’s currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.

In recent months, she was quietly transferred to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas following interviews with the Department of Justice.

Critics have slammed the move as unusually lenient.

9

9

Sept. 8 (UPI) — The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee received files Monday from Jeffrey Epstein‘s estate that included a decades-old “birthday book” note, which some claim was written by President Donald Trump.

The Oversight Committee said it will release redacted versions of the files — which include Epstein’s last will and testament, bank accounts, contact list and the non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office in South Florida — to the public “in the near future.”

Trump has denied writing a birthday note to Epstein and calls it a “fake.” The president has even filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for first reporting on the “bawdy” letter. Dow Jones, the parent company of the newspaper, said it has “full confidence in the rigor and accuracy” of its reporting.

Epstein was a wealthy financier who owned a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was a convicted sex offender and was awaiting trial on charges of federal sex trafficking of minors, when he committed suicide inside a New York City jail in 2019.

On Monday, Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California — who serves on the Oversight panel — urged the president to “tell us the truth.”

“The Oversight Committee has secured the infamous ‘Birthday Book’ that contains a note from President Trump that he has said does not exist,” Garcia said in a statement. “It’s time for the president to tell us the truth about what he knew and release all the Epstein files. The American people are demanding answers.”

The White House said the signature in the letter does not belong to the president.

“Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it’s not his signature. DEFAMATION!” White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich wrote Monday in a post on X.

The Oversight Committee issued a subpoena last month for information from Epstein’s estate, including a copy of the alleged birthday book given to him in 2003 on his 50th birthday.

Last week, the committee released 33,295 pages of files on Epstein and his sex trafficking of minors. Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the Justice Department on Aug. 5 to obtain the documents.

Committee member Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., estimated that 97% of the files had already been made public.