Trumps four pictures

Trump said he ‘never wrote a picture in my life.’ Here are four.
President Donald Trump denied ever creating any drawings when asked about a sketch of a naked woman bearing his name that allegedly was part of a bawdy birthday gift to Jeffrey Epstein more than two decades ago.

“I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” Trump said in an interview Tuesday with the Wall Street Journal about the sketch, the newspaper reported.

Trump, however, has made multiple drawings over the years; at least four were publicly auctioned off during his first term as president.

As a businessman and reality TV star, Trump created two sketches of the New York skyline, both prominently featuring Trump Tower, a third of the Empire State Building and one of the George Washington Bridge. Each of them bears the future president’s characteristic squiggly signature in heavy marker.


Donald Trump’s drawing of the Empire State Building. (Julien’s Auctions)
Donald Trump’s drawing of the Empire State Building. (Julien’s Auctions)
On Friday, White House communications director Stephen Cheung wrote in a statement that the Journal “printed fake news” and the president had said “he doesn’t draw things like the outlet described.”

Trump’s own statement, however, was more sweeping.

“These are not my words, not the way I talk,” he wrote on Truth Social Thursday night after the Journal published its story alleging that he was connected to the Epstein birthday gift.

Related video: WSJ: Trump birthday note to Epstein says, 'May every day be another wonderful secret' (MSNBC)
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WSJ: Trump birthday note to Epstein says, 'May every day be another wonderful secret'

“Also, I don’t draw pictures.”

The Post verified that Trump has drawn at least four, which were auctioned off during his first term as president.

In November 2017, Los Angeles-based Nate D. Sanders Auctions sold a Trump doodle of the New York skyline atop his signature for nearly $30,000. Trump made the drawing in 2005 amid his growing fame as the host of the reality TV show “The Apprentice” and donated it to a charity auction at the time.

The sketch features the outlines of other buildings with Trump Tower at the center. Trump’s skyscraper is the largest in the image, although at the time it was the 64th-tallest building in the city.

Three months later, L.A.-based Julien’s Auctions sold a hand-drawn sketch of the Empire State Building. Trump donated the illustration in the early 1990s to a fine arts festival in Palm Beach, Florida, according to the auction house. During that time, Trump was trying to wrest ownership of the iconic landmark, eventually brokering a deal for the sale of the building.

In 2019, Dallas-based Heritage Auctions sold a more detailed depiction of the New York skyline created in 2004 titled “You’re Fired,” after Trump’s catchphrase from “The Apprentice.”

The sketch sits alongside a portrait of Trump wearing a tuxedo and sitting in front of an ornate fireplace.

Later that year, Julien’s sold a minimalist sketch of the George Washington Bridge that Trump drew around 2006. It went for about $4,500.

Donald Trump’s drawing of the George Washington Bridge. (Julien’s Auctions)

Trump’s blanket denial could complicate his efforts to calm the growing political uproar about the Epstein case. The furor began nearly two weeks ago when the Justice Department announced it would not release any additional information from the federal investigation of Epstein.

The financier, who pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges involving an underage girl in 2008, was indicted by federal prosecutors in 2019 with sex trafficking. That case never went to trial because he died in federal custody that year — a death that was ruled a suicide.

Many of Trump’s supporters believe the FBI’s investigative files on Epstein include a client list that would implicate other powerful people.

On July 7, the Justice Department said “no incriminating ‘client list’ ” exists in connection with the Epstein case and that further release of documents would be not be “appropriate or warranted.”

That statement caused some of Trump’s most loyal supporters to turn on him. Even House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) broke with the administration’s decision not to release additional records.

Trump lashed out in response, maligning “PAST supporters” as “weaklings” before bowing to pressure Thursday by directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the public release of grand jury testimony in the case.

Trump’s concession came after the Wall Street Journal report, which refocused attention on Trump’s friendship with Epstein. It centered on a lewd letter bearing Trump’s name, one of dozens from family and friends that Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell collected in 2003 as a special gift for Epstein’s 50th birthday, the Journal wrote.

According to the Journal, the letter with Trump’s signature includes several lines of text inside the outline of a naked woman, which seems to have been drawn with a large marker and ends with: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

The Washington Post has not independently verified the letter described by the Journal.

Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the sketch and threatened to sue the Journal.

Emily Heil, Emily Davies, Beth Reinhard, Patrick Svitek, Perry Stein and Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.