President Donald Trump refused to address a birthday note that he reportedly wrote to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after House Democrats released it.
On Tuesday, NBC News contacted the president by phone to ask him about the message he allegedly sent for Epstein's 50th birthday. The note was written inside a doodle of a woman and included a reference to a "wonderful secret."
"I don't comment on something that's a dead issue," Trump told NBC. "I gave all comments to the staff. It's a dead issue."
The president had previously denied that the note existed.
White House aides insisted that the note released to Democrats by Epstein's estate was fake.
"The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire 'Birthday Card' story is false," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on Monday. "As I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it."
Leavitt warned that Trump would "continue to aggressively pursue litigation" against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for first publishing details about the note in July.