On Sept. 8, 2025, The Wall Street Journal, among other outlets, published the image of a purported 50th birthday letter that U.S. President Donald Trump wrote in 2003 to Jeffrey Epstein, who was later convicted of sex crimes with minors, depicting the rough outline of a nude woman. Snopes readers speculated about the authenticity of this image, given that fake versions had circulated online since the Journal reported the existence of such a letter in July.
Democratic members of Congress also shared the letter:
We can confirm that the above image shows the letter initially revealed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reforms, which released records provided by Epstein's estate online. However, Trump denied ever writing such a letter and denied that the signature in the letter was his, leading to competing claims. We were unable to independently confirm the veracity of this image.
The Journal's initial July report about the existence of this letter came out after the Justice Department published a memo saying it would no longer release documents related to Epstein and concluded he did not maintain an elite "client list," angering Trump supporters who had long spread conspiracy theories about the files. The disgraced financier died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and investigators concluded he committed suicide.
How was the letter revealed?
According to The Wall Street Journal, Epstein's estate lawyers gave the House Oversight Committee a copy of his 50th-birthday book, which included the letter bearing Trump's purported signature, in September 2025. The House committee confirmed receipt of the birthday book.
On Sept. 8, the committee released records provided by Epstein's estate, after an August subpoena issued by Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky. Comer noted in a statement that "President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing" and accused Democrats of "cherry-picking documents and politicizing information."
The screenshot below depicts the letter, which can be found on this Google Drive on Page 165 of "Request 1":
(House Oversight Committee)
Compare this to Snopes' July 2025 report on a fake image of the same purported birthday letter. That image had a number of inconsistencies that led us to conclude it did not depict the actual letter in question.
The image was initially described thusly by The Wall Street Journal:
The letter bearing Trump's name, which was reviewed by the Journal, is bawdy — like others in the [birthday] album. It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts, and the future president's signature is a squiggly "Donald" below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.
Trump's letter to Epstein also reportedly contained a typewritten, imaginary conversation between the two men:
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 also 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.
Trump: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.
The image of the purported letter released in September is consistent with the description in the Journal's July report.
Did Trump write the letter?
Trump has denied writing the above letter or drawing the image. As we previously reported, he said in an interview with the Journal: "This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story […] I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women. […] It's not my language. It's not my words. […] I'm gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else."
Trump's legal team was pursuing a defamation case against the Journal, as of this writing.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters after the letter's release that Democrats were concocting a "hoax" with the Epstein investigation. She asserted that forensic analysts said Trump did not sign the letter: "The president did not write this letter. He did not sign this letter."
Leavitt added, "The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world, and he has for many, many years. He did not sign those documents. He maintains that position, and that position will be argued in court by his lawyers. The President is very confident he's going to win this case."
We looked closely at the signature on the birthday letter and found it only carried Trump's first name. However, as The New York Times reported, Trump's signature evolved over many years, and he often signed with just his first name on personal letters. Letters Trump signed to New York City officials between 1987 to 2001, for instance, showed he used only his first name, and the signature looked almost identical to the one in the Epstein letter. They all carried the same long tail after the final "d" in his first name, something he does not use in his official presidential signature, in which he writes his full name.
The publicizing of this letter came after Republicans and Democrats alike called for the release of the Epstein files. Lawmakers also demanded the Justice Department release Epstein's financial documents and his last will and testament, among other materials.