Democrats in Congress have released a note allegedly signed by US President Donald Trump and sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003.

Lawyers for Epstein's estate sent documents to the House Oversight Committee after they were subpoenaed last month.

Democratic members of the committee posted a copy of the alleged letter, which features a drawing of a woman's body, on X on Monday.

"President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it," the White House said.

When the Wall Street Journal published details of the alleged note in July, Trump said it was "a fake thing" and denied writing it.

"These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures," he said, before launching legal action against the newspaper.

The president filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's reporters, publisher and executives, including News Corp's owner Rupert Murdoch, seeking $10bn (£7.4bn) in damages.

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After Democrats released the note on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "President Trump's legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation".

"As I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it," Leavitt added.

The signed note posted on X features several lines of text, with the final line reading: "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret."

In the post with the image, the Democrats on the Oversight Committee wrote: "Trump talks about a 'wonderful secret' the two of them shared. What is he hiding? Release the files!"

The House Oversight Committee last month issued a legal summons for the executors of Epstein's estate to produce a number of documents, including a birthday book which contains the note purportedly from Trump.

The newspaper's publisher Dow Jones said at the time it had "full confidence in the rigour and accuracy of our reporting".

On Monday, Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said: "President Trump called the Epstein investigation a hoax and claimed that his birthday note didn't exist.

"Now we know that Donald Trump was lying and is doing everything he can to cover up the truth."

On X, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich posted several images of Trump's signature on Monday.

"Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it's not his signature. DEFAMATION!" Budowich wrote.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell created the birthday book for the financier in 2003.

It contained submissions from various Epstein acquaintances, including a note allegedly bearing the name of Trump, who was then his friend.

Trump and Epstein were friendly for years, but the president has said he fell out with him in the early 2000s after the financier poached employees from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Epstein was first criminally indicted in 2006 in Florida on a state felony charge of solicitation of prostitution.