Donald Trump has called the Jeffrey Epstein story a dead issue. But in a week of blockbuster new revelations, Epstein's criminality - and its consequences - continue to haunt many of his former associates.
The so-called birthday book of wishes given to Epstein in 2003, that was publicly released on Monday, has given new ammunition to Trump's critics, and it will also keep his base and the wider public clamouring for more details.
It may not be a proverbial smoking gun – an undeniable link to wrongdoing that destroys careers or supercharges criminal investigations. But it is concrete, troubling evidence of the close relationship the late financier and convicted sex offender had with the rich and powerful.
That alone makes it an explosive and compelling story – one that is capturing the public's attention in ways a typical political story does not.
While there is no suggestion of criminal wrongdoing by Trump, the political consequences of the Epstein saga on the president are very real. He is vulnerable on this issue. His attempts to deflect or dismiss it have failed.
And he has at times lashed out at his own base for their fixation on the story - an interest he encouraged as recently as last year.
How the birthday book changed the story
While the 2003 book, compiled by Epstein's then-girlfriend and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, is full of dozens of personal notes, it is the one purportedly from Trump that has turned this from a tragic story of sex trafficking and exploitation into one of national partisan intrigue.
The details of the note – an imagined dialogue between Trump and Epstein full of innuendo and double-entendres set within the sketched outline of a nude female torso - have been known to the public since the Wall Street Journal reported on them in July.
Trump had initially responded to that coverage with blanket denials, protestations of being the target of a hoax and a defamation lawsuit in which his lawyers doubted the note's existence.
As conservatives rallied to Trump's defence, the president seemed to have eased concerns among his political base which had been divided over the White House's handling of the Epstein files.
Political analysts began to wonder if this would be the latest in the long line of potential scandals and controversies that the president shrugs off.
However, Trump’s strategy had one glaringly obvious risk – that the note would become public. An anodyne description of bawdy text and drawings in the pages of a financial newspaper is very different from seeing the actual item, with its depiction of small female breasts and a signature resembling Trump's that is positioned to suggest pubic hair.
One greater concern for the White House than the specific revelation of the note, however, is the way in which the birthday book will fuel wider interest in, and attention to, the Epstein case.
The note purportedly from Trump is just a fragment in a larger mosaic of Epstein's life – a picture of a man who had friends and associates in the highest of places, including some of whom found humour in his reputation for sexual exploits.
In conclusion, the Epstein saga has become more than just a political controversy; it has evolved into a significant cultural discussion about power, complicity, and accountability in the face of heinous crimes.
