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By Alia Shoaib
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A book containing birthday messages from associates of Jeffrey Epstein could be obtained by lawmakers with little delay, an attorney for several of his victims has said.
Bradley Edwards told MSNBC on Wednesday a commemorative book to mark the disgraced financier's 50th birthday in 2003 was in the possession of Epstein's estate, and that the law firms holding it would comply with a congressional subpoena to obtain it.
President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal last week after the newspaper reported that a sexually suggestive note in the birthday book featured Trump's signature. Trump has strenuously denied the report, and on Thursday his attorney's team referred Newsweek to a July 18 Truth Social post in which the president denounced it as "false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS."
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The Department of Justice said it had no comment on the issue, while attorneys for the Journal's publisher Dow Jones and the Florida-based law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, which has been managing Epstein's estate, have been emailed for comment.
Why It Matters
The reporting of the birthday book complicated the president's efforts to distance himself from Epstein. The convicted child sex offender died in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019, but his relationships with powerful individuals continue to generate legal and political fallout.
Access to the book and what it contains would be a major development in Trump's lawsuit against the Journal. It could also provide information about who Epstein's associates were - though any involvement would not be evidence of wrongdoing.
What To Know
Edwards told MSNBC that the book made for Epstein's birthday was currently held by his estate.
"Congress could issue a subpoena to their attorneys at Patterson or at Troutman — those are the two law firms," he said. "I know those attorneys, they would turn the book over immediately. Nobody would have to guess, there wouldn't need to be a lawsuit."
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Troutman has previously represented Epstein's estate.
Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, told MSNBC that the revelation by Edwards was a "bombshell."
"We can easily move forward on this subpoena of that birthday book, which could really advance this case," Khanna said.
Epstein and Trump, who have been photographed together, fell out in 2004, according to the president.
Epstein was arrested in July 2006 after a grand jury indicted him on a single count of soliciting prostitution.
In 2008, he avoided more severe federal charges by pleading guilty to state charges of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and served 13 months.
He was again arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, and was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month later.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on July 18: "We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS 'article' in the useless 'rag' that is, The Wall Street Journal."
Representative Ro Khanna told MSNBC: "That's a hard thing to do, to get the Department of Justice to cooperate in releasing [the Epstein] files. What's not hard to do is to subpoena private attorneys and a private estate and to get compliance."
What Happens Next
Khanna said he intended to invite Edwards to meet with the House Oversight Committee, with plans to move forward with a subpoena to obtain the book from Epstein's estate.
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