Senior West Wing officials are said to believe that claims about the alleged card were orchestrated as a “warning shot” by the convicted teen sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to warn the president of what she knows
Donald Trump’s White House is said to fear that allies of Ghislaine Maxwell were behind the leak of claims he’d sent a handwritten birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein.
Senior West Wing officials are said to believe that claims about the card were orchestrated as a “warning shot” by the convicted teen sex trafficker to warn the president of what she knows. It has led his team to fear she could divulge far more information about his ties to Epstein if she does not receive a deal. Trump denied knowledge of any card or message and is suing the Wall Street Journal which published a story on it.
Days after the Journal published is claims, Trump’s Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was dispatched to Tallahassee to speak to Maxwell. Sources close to the White House believe the British socialite, who is serving a 20-year prison term for grooming girls for the late paedophile, wants to be set free. The president, who was close friends with Epstein for more than two decades, has the power to commute her sentence or pardon her.
Addressing the card claims, a senior White House source told the Mirror: “There’s no doubt in some of the minds of the West Wing that the leak came from someone in Maxwell’s orbit and it wasn’t accidental. They believe it was a calculated move, a message to the President that she hasn’t forgotten what she knows, and that she’s willing to start talking if she’s backed into a corner. Trump knows what kind of access Maxwell had to both him and Epstein.
They added: “That’s why we moved so quickly to get someone in front of her, before Congress drags her into a hearing and it all spirals out of our control.”
It is claimed the alleged message was scrawled by Trump in a black Sharpie inside a luxury leather-bound birthday album for Epstein’s 50th birthday, and read: “May every day be another wonderful secret. Happy birthday, my friend, Donald.” The alleged note was reportedly found among personal effects seized from Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, and is said to form part of a larger trove of materials compiled by Maxwell, 63, before her arrest.
The source added: “There is real concern that Ghislaine, or someone very close to her, wanted to remind the President just how much she knows. “This is not just about Epstein anymore, it’s about self-preservation. And Trump knows she holds cards that could hurt him.”
Blanche, who previously served as the President’s personal attorney, was hastily dispatched to Florida to speak to Maxwell. The high-level visit took place at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee.
Blanche’s mission, sources say, was twofold. Firstly, he was there to assess what Maxwell is prepared to reveal, and secondly, to understand what she might want in return. An insider familiar with the trip said, “The White House didn’t want Congress to get there first. “There’s panic that her testimony could be taken out of Trump’s hands. The visit was about getting ahead of it, figuring out her demands, gauging the damage, and trying to keep her onside.”
Maxwell, who has kept silent since her conviction, reportedly cooperated fully with Blanche and his team.
Speaking outside the courthouse, her attorney David Markus said: “Ms Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege, she never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly, and to the best of her ability.”
The meeting, said to have lasted more than four hours, focused largely on Epstein’s circle of powerful friends. It is not yet known what specific revelations, if any, she made, but sources say Blanche returned to Washington with a “detailed report.”
The meeting with Maxwell came just weeks after the Department of Justice announced it would not release any Epstein files – a move that has sparked outrage among survivors. It has also, more critically for Trump, sparked a civil war among his MAGA supporters, seeing thousands turn on after he campaigned for the White House on a promise to release all information on the sex offender.
The president, now scrambling to contain the political fallout, is said to be privately furious at the backlash from his own base. Congressional committees have already issued a subpoena to compel Maxwell’s testimony in upcoming hearings into the Epstein sex trafficking network.
Several Democratic lawmakers have accused the Trump administration of trying to interfere with the process. “This stinks of a back-channel negotiation to keep Maxwell quiet,” one senior House aide said.
Trump’s team has denied any effort to interfere with congressional oversight, insisting that the President merely wants “full transparency” and for “all credible evidence related to Epstein’s crimes to be released to the public.” The President has repeatedly downplayed his ties to Epstein, claiming the two fell out “many years ago.”
But evidence shows they once had a deep personal bond that extended well into the years. Epstein died in a jail cell suicide in August 2019 as he awaited trial.