Rachel Maddow did not hold back when she confronted Donald Trump’s latest denial about his links to Jeffrey Epstein. On her MSNBC show, she reacted to the release of a sexually suggestive birthday letter that Trump allegedly signed for Epstein back in 2003. Maddow questioned what other moment in American political history could “even approximate a scandal this disgusting.”
The controversy reignited after the House Oversight Committee obtained a copy of a book from Epstein’s estate. Both the Wall Street Journal and congressional Democrats published the letter on Monday.
This came months after Trump swore the letter never existed, even filing a lawsuit against the Journal for reporting on it. By the evening, his inner circle, including Vice President JD Vance and press secretary Karoline Leavitt, was claiming that the signature was forged.
But documents tell a different story. The New York Times produced other letters from the same period that showed Trump’s signature looking nearly identical. Maddow scoffed at the defence, saying that hinging everything on whether the handwriting matched was “a terrible defence.”
The contents of the release have only deepened the unease. Alongside the birthday note was an image of Epstein with a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. They held a novelty cheque that appeared to claim Epstein had jokingly “sold” Trump a “fully depreciated” woman for $22,500. Maddow reminded her audience that this surfaced after Trump’s past insistence that he cut ties with Epstein because Epstein “took” women from his club.
Maddow was incredulous. “Real normal stuff here, you guys,” she said, dripping with sarcasm. Her larger point was about the sheer level of disgrace attached to it all. “I mean, what in presidential history even approximates a scandal this disgusting? What in the history of the United States of America, for anybody in any position of public trust, approximates the level of repulsiveness that Donald Trump brings to the presidency?”
It was an extraordinary broadcast that captured the raw anger of someone who has followed Trump’s career closely for years. By drawing on the documents and images released on Monday, Maddow painted a picture that was both shocking and hard to dismiss.
Found the letter for you, @JDVance https://t.co/q77ZAo3uKh pic.twitter.com/5QFBbPPeF6
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) September 8, 2025
For viewers, the issue is not just about whether Trump’s signature was genuine. It is about the grotesque nature of the material itself and what it says about the man who once held the highest office in the country.
For Trump’s team, the strategy seems to be to deny, distract and dismiss. But with letters and photographs emerging from Epstein’s estate, it is becoming harder to wave it away as fabrication. The lawsuits against journalists may win him time, but the evidence is now in the public domain, where people can see it for themselves.
The wider question is what this means for Trump’s standing as he faces renewed scrutiny over his past. For Maddow, the answer is simple. There has never been anything like it. And in her words, that level of “repulsiveness” will forever define his legacy.
