Trump’s team backed an expert review of Epstein note. How would it work?

The White House has said it would enactment a nonrecreational handwriting investigation to beryllium that United States President Donald Trump did not constitute a salacious day enactment to the precocious enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Handwriting investigation features successful ineligible proceedings astir the world, including transgression trials and disputes implicit wills and inheritance.

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While not infallible, the subject is considered to beryllium comparatively close erstwhile practised by professionals.

In a 2022 survey published successful the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 86 forensic papers examiners incorrectly assigned a handwriting illustration to a writer successful conscionable 3.1 percent of cases and incorrectly ruled retired a writer successful 1.1 percent of cases.

An introspection of Trump’s alleged enactment to Epstein, contained successful a scrapbook prepared to commemorate the financier’s 50th day successful 2003, would request to conscionable the aforesaid requirements arsenic successful immoderate different lawsuit to beryllium considered reliable, according to handwriting investigation experts.

Chief among them would beryllium entree to the archetypal “birthday book” and samples of Trump’s signature from the era.

While the integer representation of Trump’s alleged signature has been plastered crossed the net since Democratic lawmakers released the enactment earlier this month, handwriting analysts mostly bash not see specified copies to beryllium reliable.

Tahnee Dewhurst, a handwriting adept and main examiner astatine Acari Consulting successful Australia, said a papers examiner would not lone look astatine the wide signifier of the signature successful question, but besides insignificant details that marque it unique.

“What a papers examiner tends to look astatine is much fine-line features,” Dewhurst told Al Jazeera.

“We’ll commencement to look astatine relationships betwixt letters, specified arsenic size proportion, slant proportion, wherever 1 missive connects the adjacent letter, wherever it leaves the letter, tallness proportion.”

A day missive that President Donald Trump allegedly wrote to enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein much than 20 years agone is seen arsenic presented by the Democrats successful the US House of Representatives connected their X relationship connected September 8, 2025 [Handout/Democrats connected the House Oversight Committee via Reuters]

Trump has adamantly denied that the signature astatine the bottommost of the note, comprised of typed substance wrong the outline of a bare woman, belongs to him.

Earlier this month, the US president filed a $15bn defamation suit against The New York Times aft threatening to writer the outlet implicit its reporting connected the note.

Asked whether the Trump medication would enactment a nonrecreational investigation of the signature, White House property caput Karoline Leavitt said connected September 9 that it would backmost specified an examination.

A White House spokesperson referred Al Jazeera to an Associated Press signaling of Leavitt’s property league successful effect to questions astir Trump’s alleged signature and immoderate plans for an autarkic analysis.

The spokesperson did not supply a timeline for an introspection oregon further details.

For handwriting analysts, reddish flags casting uncertainty connected the authenticity of a signature see signs of hesitation oregon retouching, differences successful cardinal elements of the letters, and samples that are excessively similar, which could suggest tracing.

“No 1 idiosyncratic tin replicate their ain signature exactly. We’re not photocopying our signatures,” Kiki Wong, caput of forensics astatine The Forensics Company successful Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera.

Signs of authenticity see indications of fluency successful penning and accordant changes successful pen pressure, Wong and Dewhurst said.

Variations tin besides originate from the benignant of penning instrumentality – a ballpoint pen writes otherwise from the Sharpie marker often utilized by Trump – giving imaginable clues arsenic to the author.

Experts typically study their findings connected a scale, based connected their grade of certainty that the illustration was written by the idiosyncratic successful question oregon idiosyncratic else, sometimes ending with an inconclusive finding, Dewhurst said.

A idiosyncratic walks past a poster with a photograph of Trump and disgraced financier and enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein successful London connected September 3, 2025 [Isabel Infantes/Reuters]

Al Jazeera shared the day publication illustration and 3 integer samples of Trump’s confirmed signature from 1988, 1989, and 2005 with Wong, Dewhurst, and a 3rd adept based successful the US.

The observations presented are for informational purposes lone and bash not represent ceremonial adept investigation oregon conclusive evidence.

None would connection a decision connected whether Trump’s alleged signature was genuine owed to not having entree to the originals, though each of them noted similarities.

Dewhurst said the Epstein day publication signature “fit good wrong the scope of variation” of samples and showed “no evident indicators of simulation”.

At the aforesaid time, Dewhurst said, determination was nary mode to beryllium definite the alleged signature had not been copied and pasted from determination else.

“Without having a look astatine the archetypal material, there’s not a batch you tin offer,” she said.

Wong said she did not spot immoderate “fundamental differences” betwixt the samples, but noted that the day publication illustration was of debased prime and not the original.

“I’m not seeing immoderate important differences that would sway maine to deliberation idiosyncratic has tried to simulate this signature, but – this is simply a large but – I americium besides not seeing a crystal-clear representation of the day publication signature,” Wong said.

“There are a batch of caveats.”

The US-based expert, who asked not to beryllium named for nonrecreational reasons, said Trump’s signature would not beryllium hard for a skilled practitioner to copy. Photocopies oregon integer copies could obfuscate further, helium said.

“Based upon my introspection of a transcript of this questioned ‘Donald’ signature, I recovered that we are dealing with lone six missive forms, and this ‘Donald’ signature lends itself to being reasonably casual to simulate by a skilled penman,” helium said.

“I person already simulated this ‘Donald’ signature, and aft photocopying it, immoderate flimsy imperfections were masked, and a handwriting recognition adept would not beryllium capable to observe and measure the good and subtle elements of the signature, nor would the adept beryllium capable to find if my photocopied simulation was genuine oregon non-genuine,” helium added.

“This besides applies to the reproduction.”