A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The House Oversight Committee has released some documents handed over by the estate of Jeffrey Epstein.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Yeah, that includes more than 200 pages of a book made for the disgraced financier's 50th birthday more than two decades ago. One of those pages is a lewd drawing and letter that appears to be signed by President Trump, a letter that Trump said did not exist.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Stephen Fowler has read through the document released. Stephen, are these going to be enough to satisfy the demand from people who want the release of the, quote, "Epstein files"?
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Not at all. I mean, this is a limited set of documents handed over by the Epstein estate. They were answering a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee investigating how the government handled the prosecution of the convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in 2019 while in federal custody. There is the copy of a typed letter set inside the drawing of a nude female body that appears to be signed by Trump, which includes the line, a pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And I remember this was reported back in July, and now we're seeing the birthday drawing. What else did you see in the documents?
FOWLER: There's a lot of redacted pictures and other vulgar references to Epstein's sex life and personal life, notes from high-profile friends like former president Bill Clinton and lawyer Alan Dershowitz. There was another page that had a mock-up of a check that appears to be a crude joke about Trump and Epstein and a redacted woman. The text below the picture says Epstein was, quote, "showing early talents with money and women. Sells fully depreciated," and here's the redacted woman's name, "to Donald Trump for $22,500." There's also a copy of Epstein's will, address book entries and a non-prosecution agreement by the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2007.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, so what are Republicans saying about these documents, including that letter apparently signed by Trump?
FOWLER: In Trump's second term, there's been very little daylight between Republican stances and Trump's often changing views on a lot of things, including Epstein stuff. People like Vice President JD Vance, who once agreed with Trump that the files must be released, then agreed with Trump that there were no files, then agreed with Trump that the letter didn't exist, now agree yet again with the president that actually it's just all another hoax from the Democrats.
Case in point, House Oversight Chair James Comer said in a statement accompanying the release of yesterday's documents that it is, quote, "appalling Democrats on the Oversight Committee are cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein estate."
MARTÍNEZ: And Democrats have been talking about the Epstein files a lot, largely because it's politically advantageous to do so. But what's that looking like now?
FOWLER: On the one hand, Trump campaigned on releasing the files. It was part of his campaign message to expose powerful people hiding the truth from the public. It's pretty easy to say he has broken that promise, and now many voters are seeing him as a powerful person hiding the truth from the public. Democrats on the Oversight Committee released the image of Trump's alleged letter, and the White House is insisting that letter actually proves it's not his signature and he didn't actually sign it.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the Hill have met with survivors and victims of Epstein's sex trafficking and abuse and are pushing for a fuller release of files for transparency. It's one of the few places where Democrats have leverage against Trump's otherwise complete control of the political narrative in Washington.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's NPR's Stephen Fowler. Stephen, thanks a lot.
FOWLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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