{"id":91789,"date":"2025-07-25T16:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/91789\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:15:11","slug":"epstein-revelations-threaten-to-derail-trumps-trip-to-scotland-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/91789\/","title":{"rendered":"Epstein revelations threaten to derail Trump\u2019s trip to Scotland | Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

The furore over Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s ties with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> continued on Friday as new revelations about the pair\u2019s relationship threatened to mire the president\u2019s golfing trip to Scotland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The US president\u2019s name appeared on a contributor list for a book celebrating Epstein\u2019s 50th birthday in 2003, according to reporting from the New York Times<\/a>, lending further weight to reports that Trump participated in the leather-bound collection of messages, drawings and accolades \u2013 despite denying that he contributed a signed and sexually suggestive note and drawing, as reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s name is listed among Epstein\u2019s friends and acquaintances who contributed birthday messages for the professionally bound book which reportedly had multiple volumes, the New York Times reported. The tome opens with a handwritten letter, also reviewed by the outlet, from the disgraced financier\u2019s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a>, who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to sexually traffic children.<\/p>\n

Maxwell is due to have<\/a> a second meeting<\/a> with US deputy attorney general Todd Blanche in Florida, where she is serving her term in federal prison, on Friday, <\/strong>following an initial meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Trump was asked about Maxwell on Friday morning as he departed for Scotland<\/a> with the shadow of the rumbling Epstein scandal hanging over the visit.<\/p>\n

Maxwell is appealing her conviction and the US president did not get into detail when asked about possible clemency for the disgraced British socialite and daughter of the late newspaper proprietor Robert Maxwell<\/a>. Trump cited the ongoing investigation, while confirming he had the power of the presidential pardon, which can be used for federal or national level crimes but not state level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m allowed to do it, but it\u2019s something I have not thought about,\u201d Trump told reporters<\/a> outside the White House as he prepared to depart Washington DC.<\/p>\n

The Epstein birthday gift collection includes around five dozen contributions from public figures and unknown acquaintances, according to documents reviewed by the Times and the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, and was assembled before Epstein\u2019s first arrest in 2006.<\/p>\n

The birthday book controversy has deepened anger over the decision by Trump\u2019s attorney general, Pam Bondi, and FBI director, Kash Patel, to backtrack on promises to release the Epstein investigative files.<\/p>\n

Trump has responded to the growing backlash from his usually loyal supporters \u2013 and Democrats \u2013 over the U-turn with mounting fury, claiming that news reports over the birthday book were fake news.<\/p>\n

Last week, Trump sued Journal\u2019s billionaire owner, Rupert Murdoch, publisher Dow Jones and two Journal<\/a> reporters for libel and slander over claims that he sent Epstein a signed lewd letter and sketch of a naked woman as part of the birthday book.<\/p>\n

\u201cA pair of small arcs denotes the woman\u2019s breasts, and the future president\u2019s signature is a squiggly \u2018Donald\u2019 below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,\u201d the Journal reported of the alleged drawing. The letter allegedly concluded: \u201cHappy Birthday \u2013 and may every day be another wonderful secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump followed the lawsuit, which seeks $10bn in damages, by barring Journal reporters from this weekend\u2019s trip to Scotland, where he will meet the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, for trade talks at the president\u2019s golf resort in Turnberry.<\/p>\n

He also called for relevant grand jury testimony in the prosecution of Epstein to be publicly released, insisting that he had nothing to hide. On Wednesday, a district judge in Florida denied a request by Trump\u2019s Department of Justice to unseal the transcripts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Congress was sent home early<\/a> for summer recess by House speaker and Trump loyalist Mike Johnson, in an effort to quell Democratic party demands for a vote on the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

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But Trump\u2019s desire to play down his relationship with Epstein has been repeatedly thwarted by a steady drip of evidence \u2013 photos, videos,<\/a> books and witnesses<\/a> \u2013 that strongly suggest his name could appear in the files.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, CNN published newly uncovered photos and videos that show Epstein at Trump\u2019s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples<\/a>, and the pair at a Victoria\u2019s Secret event in 1993, seemingly joking with Trump\u2019s future wife, Melania Trump.<\/p>\n

The New York Times then reported that even before the birthday anthology, Trump had written another gushing note to Epstein in 1997. \u201cTo Jeff \u2013 You are the greatest!\u201d reads an inscription in a copy of Trump\u2019s book Trump: The Art of the Comeback that belonged to Epstein, which the Times said it had reviewed.<\/p>\n

And the Journal reported more details on the birthday book, which Epstein\u2019s brother Mark Epstein recalls Maxwell putting together.<\/p>\n

The contents page was organized into categories, with Trump and Bill Clinton listed under the \u201cFriends\u201d group, according to the Journal. A message in Clinton\u2019s distinctive handwriting reportedly read: \u201cIt\u2019s reassuring isn\u2019t it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and [illegible word], and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also listed as a friend is the Labour politician and current UK ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, whose tribute, the Journal reported, included photos of whiskey and a tropical island, and referred to Epstein as \u201cmy best pal\u201d.<\/p>\n

Clinton has previously said that he cut ties with Epstein more than a decade before his 2019 arrest and didn\u2019t know about Epstein\u2019s alleged crimes. In 2023, Mandelson told the Journal that he \u201cvery much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein\u201d.<\/p>\n

Democratic representative Ro Khanna of California has said he will subpoena Epstein\u2019s estate to hand over the book.<\/p>\n

As Trump travels to Scotland, deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche will meet with convicted sex trafficker Maxwell at the Florida prison where she is incarcerated for a second day of interviews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The furore over Donald Trump\u2019s ties with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued on Friday as new…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":91790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-91789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114914769715383701","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}