I am not a rabid critic of the Trump administration’s Jeffrey Epstein flip-flop, which even went so far as President Trump calling the whole Epstein matter a “hoax,” at least when it comes to him and his relationship with the billionaire pedophile.
Trump even sued the Wall Street Journal and patriarch Rupert Murdoch when the newspaper ran an article claiming Trump penned a personal birthday card for Epstein on his 50th birthday that included an illustration of a woman’s body, asserting that the claim was completely false.
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Today, the WSJ ran an article showing the alleged birthday greeting that is the subject of the controversy, which it obtained from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The committee claims to have received the document from the Epstein estate.
I’m rerunning the illustration of the birthday greeting reportedly signed by Donald Trump because it appears to be in the public domain and not therefore subject to copyright.
This WSJ revelation, I assume, is a “whoa Nellie!” moment for some Republicans, but might circle the wagons for Trump loyalists.
WHITE HOUSE DENIAL: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt immediately issed a satement denying that President Trump ever drew the image or signed the birthday greeting.
N.B.: The WSJ followed up a few hours later with a detailed analysis of the alleged Trump birthday greeting, comparing the drawing to other drawings by Trump that even went to auction and to other signatures by Trump similar to the one on the Epstein greeting. Then today, the newspaper ran other greetings submitted to the House Oversight Committee, including those by Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton (separately). The more I see, frankly, the more I’m convinced that the Trump greeting is genuine, but that being said, does it even matter at this point? I voted for Trump for his policies, not for his past.