The Department of Justice has said a letter allegedly sent by Jeffrey Epstein shortly before his suicide, in which he said President Trump shared his love of “young, nubile girls”, is fake.
The latest batch of 11,000 documents released by the Justice Department includes a letter allegedly sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics doctor convicted in 2017 of sexually abusing young athletes.
The letter was found in the mailroom of the Manhattan jail where Epstein took his own life. It was postmarked August 13, 2019, three days after Epstein’s death, suggesting it had been returned to him from an Arizona prison without reaching Nassar. The letter’s existence was first reported in 2023 but its contents had not been published until Tuesday.
Hours after the release, the Justice Department said it was “looking into the validity” of the document and would provide an update “as soon as possible”.
On Tuesday afternoon the department concluded that it was fake. A post on X said: “The FBI has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE. The fake letter was received by the jail, and flagged for the FBI at the time.”
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/REUTERS
It said the FBI had come to this conclusion for three reasons. “The writing does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein’s. The letter was postmarked three days after Epstein’s death out of Northern Virginia, when he was jailed in New York.
“The return address did not list the jail where Epstein was held and did not include his inmate number, which is required for outgoing mail.”
The department said it “serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual”.
In the letter the alleged Epstein impersonator appears to commiserate with Nassar, 62, who is serving an effective life sentence for charges relating to child-abuse images and sexual assault. More than 265 girls accused Nassar of sexual abuse including Simone Biles, the seven-time Olympic gold medallist.
“Dear LN as you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home. Good Luck! We share one thing … our love & caring for young ladies and the hope they’d reach their full potential,” it states.
“Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch’, whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair. Yours, J Epstein.”
The letter is one of a number of apparent references to Trump in the latest release of documents. Trump has denied wrongdoing related to Epstein.
In an email dated January 8, 2020, the assistant US attorney for the southern district of New York suggested that Trump had travelled on Epstein’s private plane, nicknamed the “Lolita Express”, with an unnamed 20-year-old and Epstein.
The email says: “For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case.
“In particular, he is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present. He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric. On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old. On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case.”
• Ghislaine Maxwell sought ‘fun girls’ for ‘Andrew’ in Peru
Another heavily redacted email released on Tuesday references a picture of Trump alongside Steve Bannon, the right-wing political strategist, and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice.
The unnamed author wrote on June 11, 2021: “I’ve been looking through Steve Bannon’s iPhone 7 on Cellebrite [a digital forensics platform]. As I was going through the images from that phone, I found an image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell on Bannon’s phone.”
The author said they had “attached” the photo to the email, but the image appears to have been redacted by the Department of Justice. A large black square covers the bottom half of the email.
Eric Trump, Marla Maples, Tiffany Trump and Steve Bannon have not been accused of wrongdoing.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/REUTERS
Speaking from Mar-a-Lago on Monday night, Trump said the Epstein files were “a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success” of the Republicans.
He said: “A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein. But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party and you ruin a reputation of somebody.”
The latest release also includes a number of spurious tips submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election.
The Department of Justice said the Epstein files contained “untrue and sensationalist” claims made against Trump “right before the 2020 election” but added that the documents had been released to comply with the law.
“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponised against President Trump already,” the department wrote on X.
• Epstein files: financier wanted Andrew’s help with China contacts
One tip submitted to investigators from a caller on October 27, 2020, describes a conversation with a limousine driver. The driver claims they chauffeured Trump through Dallas in 1995. The chauffeur supposedly overheard a conversation in which Trump “continuously stated the name ‘Jeffrey’ while on the phone, and made references to ‘abusing some girl’”.
Later, a redacted name is quoted as saying, “Donald J Trump had raped her along with Jeffrey Epstein”.
The Department of Justice releases also include an Austrian passport apparently belonging to Epstein, featuring a picture of the financier but issued under a different name.
They also reveal that Jes Staley, the former chief executive of Barclays, and Larry Summers, the former US Treasury secretary, were appointed as the executors of Epstein’s estate. The Department of Justice releases show that Staley was named as the executor for several versions of Epstein’s will between 2012 and 2014. Summers was listed on Epstein’s will in 2014.
• Jeffrey Epstein introduced Jes Staley to the ‘world’s richest people’
However, neither was listed on the final will from 2019 and Staley has previously said in court that he refused a request by Epstein to be named a trustee of his will.
Staley, 68, resigned in 2021 after the depth of his relationship with Epstein became apparent.
Summers, 71, was forced to stand down from his roles at Harvard and OpenAI this year after it emerged the former top Democrat had emailed Epstein for advice on pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman.