One friend called him the “Degenerate One.” Another referred to his deviant sexual obsessions, writing an anecdote about forcing women to undress at knifepoint while they were trapped on a boat.

The pages of Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book” — made public on Monday — offers a dark and troubling window into the sex trafficker’s teenage exploits as well as his close adult friendships with wealthy and powerful people in his life in 2003. Among those who contributed to the book: President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton, a former Democratic U.S. senator, a current UK ambassador to the U.S., a former Microsoft executive, and influential people in science, academics and Wall Street.

The 238-page book was compiled and given to Epstein as a gift for his 50th birthday by his then girlfriend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. Its pages feature explicit sexual innuendos and photographs, including a bawdy message and drawing of a woman purportedly contributed by Trump.

The future president — who has repeatedly denied he wrote it — noted that he and Epstein have “certain things in common” and it is signed “Donald” in writing that is similar to other examples of Trump’s signature.

“A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the note says.

It was among hundreds of pages turned over to Congress by Epstein’s estate in response to a subpoena. The House Oversight Committee released redacted pages from the batch of records on Monday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated the president’s argument that it wasn’t his signature on any of the documents in the book and said the administration would support a forensic analysis of the signature.

“The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world and he has for many, many years,” she said. “The president did not write that letter, he did not sign those documents.”

Leavitt also slammed Democrats for perpetuating a “hoax” on Trump.

“Why are the Democrats all of a sudden caring about this?,” she said in her daily press briefing. “It’s because they are desperately trying to concoct a hoax to smear the President of the United States. We have seen this time and time again.”

“They are using victims as political props,” she added. “It is a distraction. The Democrats view this story as nothing more than an attempt to distract from the accomplishments and achievements of this administration. That is what we mean when we call it a hoax.”

Survivors and their families said the release of the files represented the first step toward transparency and the process of holding Epstein’s enablers accountable.

“This moment signifies a turning point,” the family of survivor Virginia Giuffre in a statement. “The release of these files should not only incriminate the individuals who helped build Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s child and adult sex trafficking network, but also expose the systemic failures that allowed them to act unchecked. The evidence in these documents is a stark reminder of the trauma these survivors endured for far too long.”

Some of the passages in the book were disturbing. The volume contained redacted photos of scantily clad girls and women with Epstein; and a section was entitled “Children” — which appeared to show a young girl posing provocatively and playing a piano. Another page contained a hand-drawn cartoon showing two sides of Epstein: giving balloons to schoolgirls on one side of the cartoon, and surrounded by topless women on the other.

Another message, signed “Nick” noted that there were “hundreds of hillarious incidents” involving Epstein over the years, but one of the stories he wrote detailed a late night frolic in London when they were in a car with friends and a woman between them. One of the friends pulled up her skirt and put his hand “on her p---y.’ at the same that “an old man” stuck his hands down her panties.

Someone named “Leslie” (Epstein’s most famous client was Leslie Wexner, billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret) wrote in a note dated January 20, 2003: “Dear Jeffrey, I wanted to get you what you want — so here it is...” and included a drawing of a woman’s breasts. Signed, “Happy Birthday, your friend, Leslie.” (Wexner has repeatedly denied he knew about Epstein’s sex crimes).

Another anecdote detailed how Maxwell — now serving a 20-year jail sentence on child sex trafficking charges — went to a horse show in Palm Beach to take photographs of women’s breasts for Epstein.

“I understood years ago after Ghislaine came to the Palm Beach Horse Show looking for what I thought was a horse that she was on a mission ... for a collection of breast photos,” wrote a female contributor whose identity was redacted.

“A compilation, of course, for you,” she wrote in the message to Epstein. “I came to see you some months later. You told me to take off my top. With the usual Epstein smile you looked at my breasts and said ‘yeah, I was right.’ Memory served you correctly. The beauty mark was on the right breast. One quotable memory.”

Several Epstein victims have previously described how Maxwell would take naked or partially naked photographs of them for Epstein’s arousal. Maxwell, 63, has appealed her 2021 conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. She was recently moved to a minimum security federal prison in Texas after being interviewed by assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche. She appeared to distance Trump from Epstein in the interview, saying “I don’t think they were close friends.”

But the messages indicate that Maxwell personally reached out to Epstein’s closest friends and family, asking them to contribute to the book, which she had professionally bound in a leather jacket. Epstein’s mother, Paula, noted in her message that Ghislaine had set a deadline to submit what she wanted to say.

She talked about her son proudly, noting how, at the age of 27, he had been featured in Cosmopolitan magazine as “Bachelor of the Month.”

“You still hold that title,” she wrote. She passed away the following year.

Many of the notes appear to be tongue-in-cheek inside jokes, including a photo showing Epstein standing behind an oversized check for $22,500 with Trump’s signature on it. It references a payment from Trump to Epstein for a “fully depreciated” woman, whose name appears to be redacted from the message.

Trump declined to comment on the book’s contents.

“I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue,” Trump told NBC News in a brief phone call Tuesday morning. “I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue.”

The president is suing the Wall Street Journal, which published a story in July about the Epstein birthday message, for $10 billion. Leavitt said that lawsuit will continue.

The tranche of papers released Monday also contained some never-before seen photographs and first-hand accounts of Epstein’s childhood growing up in Sea Gate, a gated predominately Jewish community in Coney Island. The photos show Epstein as a young boy playing an accordion with a band, as well as an old business card of his showing that he was available to book for bar mitzvahs and weddings.

The files from Epstein’s estate also included the late financier’s will, the non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and the U.S. attorney’s office in South Florida and a copy of Epstein’s phone contact list. The committee also requested any files resembling a “client list.”

One of the conspiracy theories about Epstein revolves around the belief that there is a list of powerful men that were part of Epstein’s circle. No such list has ever come to light, and the lawyers handling the request said they had no knowledge of a “list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr. Jeffrey Epstein.” The Department of Justice and FBI also said that no list exists.

The committee subpoenaed the files from Epstein’s estate as part of their investigation into the late financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

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