Yes, Trump Wrote That Birthday Letter to Jeffrey Epstein, Most Americans Say

President Donald Trump can’t shake off questions about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, a matter made worse by the release of a message he purportedly sent to the disgraced financier as part of a 2003 birthday book that was being compiled by his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The president denies that he wrote the typewritten note, which includes sexually suggestive text framed by the outline of a naked female body. But the American people don’t believe him, a new Morning Consult survey shows, reflecting broader public skepticism of his administration’s honesty about the case.

A slim majority of voters (53%) said they believe Trump wrote, signed and sent the birthday letter to Epstein in 2003, compared with just 21% who don’t think he did. Strikingly, Republican voters are divided over the question, with 35% saying they don’t believe the president is responsible for the letter and 32% saying he is.

It marks a rare moment of division between the president and his typically loyal Republican base, and is similar to the party rank-and-file’s skeptical response to the Justice Department’s assertions in July that Epstein had indeed killed himself, and that investigators had found no evidence of a client list or blackmail scheme involving Epstein and prominent people.

In fact, Republicans — along with Democrats and independents — are more skeptical of Trump’s defense about the birthday book than they were about those DOJ claims two months ago.

The bottom line

That most voters don’t believe Trump is being truthful about something is, of course, not new. And when it comes to Republicans specifically, he’s been able to get a lot of free passes — though that isn’t always the case for other GOP officials. This might help explain why some House Republicans have felt the need, and perhaps even the comfort, to press the Justice Department on the matter despite Trump’s objections. 

And as long as Republicans remain divided over the Epstein saga, Democrats will continue to hammer on it, threatening to keep the issue on the table as a distraction for Washington broadly and for those interests seeking favorable policy outcomes this fall.