The Moment That Does Not Pass - and Trump Cannot Escape

The controversy over Donald Trump's past reached a new dimension on Monday. The House Oversight Committee released a document from Jeffrey Epstein's notorious birthday book that allegedly bears the signature of the sitting president. The album, professionally bound in 2003 for Epstein's 50th birthday, contains dozens of contributions from prominent associates - from Bill Clinton to Leon Black. Trump's entry stands out: the text is not only suggestive but is framed by a silhouette drawing of a naked woman. At the end appears a sweeping "Donald J. Trump" signature. See also our article at: https://kaizen-blog.org/en/die-neue-eskalation-im-epstein-komplex-demokraten-veroeffentlichen-brief-trump-geht-zum-angriff-ueber/

Trump denies any connection to the document. He calls it a “forgery” and a “malicious fabrication” and promptly filed a ten-billion-dollar lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, whose reporters had first reported on the letter in July. The Wall Street Journal had reported on the alleged letter weeks ago – even though the newsroom apparently had neither the album itself nor a forensic examination of the signature in hand. This is precisely what makes the matter so delicate: publishing in such a highly sensitive case without a verified primary source feels like an open invitation to Trump’s legal offensive. His newly filed lawsuit is likely aimed above all at proving that the report was insufficiently substantiated.

On X, Trump also had his chief of staff Taylor Budowich post pictures of his signature to refute the paper's portrayal. But this attempt could backfire: the scans now released can be compared with dozens of other original letters from Trump's career - and the similarities are striking. The angular line work, the distinctive flourish of the "D", the long horizontally drawn closing stroke: it looks like the same hand. Even TV host Keith Olbermann published an original letter from Trump from 2014 that he had in his possession - the comparison is unequivocal.

And that is only the first part of the scandal. Particularly revealing is the second document from the album: a letter from real estate investor Joel Pashcow, a fixture of the Palm Beach scene and longtime Mar-a-Lago member. Pashcow, known for his closeness to Epstein and Trump, mocked up a posterboard-sized $22,500 check that looks as if it came from Trump, and wrote underneath that Epstein had "sold" a "fully depreciated" woman to Trump. The woman's name was redacted for privacy reasons, her lawyer called it a "disgusting and deeply disturbing hoax." Pashcow himself remained silent on the allegations.

Politically, the incident is highly explosive. Democrats on the committee accuse Trump of having denied the existence of the documents for months and lied to the public. They are demanding the full release of all Epstein files. Republicans like committee chairman James Comer, on the other hand, warn against "cherry picking" and insist on a comprehensive review. But the symbolic power of the images - Trump, Epstein, Pashcow and a $22,500 check - can no longer be contained. They shine a light on a world where power, sex and money were closely intertwined, and in which Donald Trump was much closer to Epstein than he admits today.

Then came the next bombshell: House Speaker Mike Johnson declared on Monday evening that it had been "long known" that Trump acted as an "FBI informant against Epstein." This statement, as nonchalantly as it was presented, seems less like a revelation and more like an act of desperation. The idea that the president himself was handled as a source does not raise questions but causes roaring laughter - a tall tale that seems more like a last-ditch maneuver to keep the presidential head politically above water. That the FBI under Trump was staffed with loyal, often professionally weak personnel fits into this picture of an institution that was to be made politically compliant - and whose credibility is now also being damaged.

Update: Mike Johnson has since fully retracted his statement and admitted that his claim that Donald Trump had acted as an FBI informant in the Epstein case was "complete nonsense."

One thing is certain: Trump can no longer be reelected, and yet his political future is on the line. Every tiny piece from Epstein’s estate, every new photo, every handwritten note digs deeper into a past he wants to erase at any cost. The louder his denials, the more it reinforces the impression that a story is being dragged into the light that is likely to weaken him in the decisive phase of his presidency and push his poll numbers even lower. The “Birthday Book” reads like a grotesque time capsule, a mix of high-society album and obscene confessional, celebrating the moral decay of a man who had long since become a predator of his surroundings. Page by page it builds the picture of a circle that not only knew of Epstein’s abuses but gilded them with caricatures, poems, and cynical jokes – as if his life were one endless performance of transgression. The handwriting of his friends, who gush about “so many girls, so little time,” feels like a mirror of an era in which power and money had completely suspended any sense of shame. Anyone reading these pages can see that Epstein’s scandal was not born in a secret room but in the bright light of the admiration of his entourage, who toasted the monstrous with a glass of champagne.