Letter signed by ‘J. Epstein’ to Larry Nassar cites ‘our president’
From CNN’s Kara Fox and Tierney Sneed, CNN
Warning: This post contains language readers may find disturbing.
A handwritten letter signed by “J. Epstein” appears to make crude references to President Donald Trump in a short 2019 message from jail addressed to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar.
Hours after the document was released among a tranche of other Epstein-related records held by the Justice Department, the department issued a statement casting doubt on the document’s authenticity while stating it was looking “into the validity of this alleged letter.”
The letter does not explicitly name Trump, but instead refers to “our president.” The message appears to have been sent in August 2019, the same month Epstein died by suicide. Trump was president at the time.
“Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls,” the letter reads.
Authorities have not accused Trump of any wrongdoing or charged him with any crimes in connection with Epstein.
“Dear L.N.,” the letters reads, “As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home. Good luck! We shared one thing … our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they’d reach their full potential. Our President also shares our love of young, nubile girls.” The letter makes another lewd reference to Trump’s treatment of women.
“Life is unfair,” the letter reads.
In its statement addressing the letter, the Justice Department highlighted that it was not postmarked in New York, where Epstein was jailed, but in Virginia, and that it had a return address for a jail different than the one that housed Epstein. The letter’s envelope was also processed three days after Epstein’s suicide, the department statement noted.
In a statement the department released earlier Tuesday, not aimed at any specific record in the most recent release, the Department said that some of the documents released “contain untrue and sensationalist claims” against the president.
“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on the letter.
While the letter is addressed to an “L.N.,” a photo of the envelope – postmarked on August 13, 2019 and addressed to the former Olympic doctor and sex offender – was released by the DOJ. The envelope was sent from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City to Nassar, who was listed as an inmate at a federal prison in Arizona.
The letter was postmarked three days after Epstein died. Prison staff are authorized to read and inspect outgoing mail, which can cause delays. It’s not clear why Epstein’s letter was permitted by prison officials to be sent and why it was delayed.
CNN previously reported that while he was jailed, Epstein sent a letter to Nassar — although the contents of the letter were not disclosed. It was discovered by prison officials investigating Epstein’s suicide weeks after his death. It is not known if Nassar and Epstein had a relationship.
The FBI in 2020 requested from its laboratory a handwriting analysis be done to compare the letter to other writings from Epstein, according to another document posted on Tuesday from the DOJ. It did not say what the lab concluded.
Nassar, the longtime doctor for the USA gymnastics team and Michigan State University, is serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison on child pornography charges. More than 150 women and girls publicly told a court he sexually abused them.
The envelope, addressed to Larry Nassar at 9300 S. Wilmot Road, Tucson, Arizona, 85756, a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility, was marked as “return to sender,” as the addressee was “no longer at this address.”
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