The White House is absolutely melting down over the unveiling of President Donald Trump’s lewd birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Wall Street Journal on Monday published an image of Trump’s 50th birthday letter to Epstein, after it was delivered to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee by lawyers for the late sex trafficker’s estate. The letter included a signature that appeared to match Trump’s.

Having previously claimed the 2003 letter didn’t exist at all, the Trump administration attempted to keep up the farce.

“The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire ‘Birthday Card’ story is false,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed in a post on X.

“As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it,” she wrote. “President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.”

Leavitt didn’t offer up any potential plot holes in the story, but she did accuse the reporter Joe Palazzolo of requesting a comment only at the time of publication.

On the flip side, California Governor Gavin Newsom had fun drawing attention to Vice President JD Vance’s claim in July, when the letter was first reported, that it was “complete and utter bullshit.”

“Where is this letter?” Vance wrote back then. “Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”

“This aged nicely,” Newsom wrote Monday in a post on X.

The House Oversight Committee obtained a copy of Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday book on Monday.

The book, initially reported on by The Wall Street Journal, was said to contain a strange birthday poem from Trump to Epstein framed by a sketch of a woman’s figure.

The image released verifies the Journal’s reporting, showing the form of a woman surrounding a poem addressed to Epstein in which Trump allegedly wrote “a pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret. Donald J. Trump.”

There is also a signature at the bottom of the woman’s figure, potentially mimicking pubic hair. It reads “Donald.”

The White House was quick to declare the image a fake, accusing The Wall Street Journal of defamation.

“The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire “Birthday Card” story is false,” wrote White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.”

“Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it’s not his signature,” White House deputy chief of staff for communications Taylor Budowich wrote. “DEFAMATION!” Attached to his post were four other images of more recent signatures from Trump that were a bit more rigid and sharp than the one shown in the Journal.

But unfortunately for Team Trump, there are countless examples of Trump signing other documents with the signature extremely similar to the one shown by the Journal, demonstrating that Trump’s signature has likely changed over time and that his signature is different when signing his first name versus both of his names.

“Taylor’s examples are all from after he became President, at least two are from 2024,” journalist Damien Toll wrote above Budowich’s post. “The birthday letter is from 2003. For comparison, here’s a book Trump signed for Epstein in 1997, also with just his first name.”

“Two seconds on google I found this 2005 autograph when his signature was clearly different. He spelled out both names. The Dons letter to his friend Jeff just has him signing Donald,” said Talking Point Memo’s Josh Marshall. “Back to the drawing board @TayFromCA.”

Another 1999 letter shows a similar Trump signature.

Each defense the Trump administration has offered has been shaky at best. When reports of his naked woman sketch to Epstein first came out, he responded with, “I don’t draw pictures.” The internet was quick to point out that outright lie, as at least five sketches of his have been auctioned off over the years. Now they’re dismissing a signature that looks very real.

The Trump administration continues to turn to lies and excuses as the Oversight Committee’s possession of the book may lead to new insight into Trump and Epstein’s relationship.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigrants is coming to Chicago.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced Operation Midway Blitz, an Immigration Customs Enforcement operation targeting undocumented immigrants in Chicago and Illinois.

Undocumented immigrants had “flocked” to Illinois, the DHS said, because they “knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”

While sanctuary cities have policies in place that limit coordination and information sharing with federal immigration authorities about noncitizens, undocumented immigrants accused of committing........

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