US Democrats have made public a 238-page scrapbook given to Jeffrey Epstein as a present on his 50th birthday. The letters repeatedly reference the sex offender’s lecherous reputation
Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday book – in pictures
The cover of the Ghislaine Maxwell-compiled book for Epstein’s 50th birthday. The Wall Street Journal reported on the existence of the book and a letter in July, prompting a $10bn defamation suit from Donald Trump. The US House oversight committee subpoenaed the book along with other documents from Epstein’s estate, including bank records, as part of its investigation into the handling of the late sex offender’s case
Photograph: Democrats on the House oversight committee/Reuters
One of the mostly shocking images is a hand-drawn picture of him handing young girls balloons and a lollipop in 1983 – alongside another image showing him 20 years later, in 2003, receiving a massage from topless women. One of the women has Epstein’s initials, ‘JE’, tattooed on her bottom
A contribution to the book from Peter Mandelson, now the UK ambassador to the US, which shows an image of the two together along with the message: ‘But, wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!’
Photograph: US committee on oversight and government reform/PA
Bill Clinton, who had left the US presidency a couple of years before the publication of the book, is listed in the ‘friends’ section. The document has a note sourced to Clinton, who appears to have written about Epstein’s ‘childlike curiosity’ and a ‘drive to make a difference’. The former president has previously said he had cut ties with Epstein more than a decade before his arrest and was not aware of his crimes
