'Fake' letter and 'false claims' among latest Epstein files, US Justice Department says

The US government says newly released documents from the Epstein files contain "untrue and sensationalist" claims about Donald Trump.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has published almost 30,000 new documents after failing to meet a deadline for the release of all the files last week.

The US president is mentioned multiple times in the new release.

But in a series of tweets, the DOJ cast doubt on some of the documents, including what it called a "fake" note from Jeffrey Epstein that mentioned Mr Trump.

Many individuals have been named in the documents, which does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.

Some politicians and officials had for years opposed the mass release of the files for this very reason: because the documents could include informant tips and other information that is difficult to verify.

Mr Trump's relationship with Epstein has long been scrutinised. His chief of staff, Susie Wiles, conceded in an interview published last week that he was in the files.

Thousands more documents are expected to be released in the coming weeks. It is unclear whether the president will continue to feature in them.

Here is some of the stand-out material from the files so far, and what we've been told about what's real and what's not.

Claim against Trump

When it released the files, the Department of Justice said they contained "untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election".

That appears to be a reference to a document about a phone call received by the FBI in October that year.

The caller, a former limousine driver, said he had driven Mr Trump to Dallas airport in 1995, according to a record of the call.

Redactions in the document make some details unclear. But it appears the limousine driver told the FBI that, four years after he drove Mr Trump to the airport, he had a conversation with a woman about it.

He told the woman he had overheard Mr Trump speaking on his mobile phone during the trip.

The call record says:

"[Redacted name] reported some of [the] things President Trump had spoken about during the ride while on his cell phone were very concerning.

"[Redacted] reported he was 'a few seconds from pulling him out of the car and hurting him due to some of [the] things he was saying' as caller choose not to.

"[Redacted] noted Trump continuously stated the name 'Jeffrey' while on the phone, and made references to 'abusing some girl'."

According to the account given to the FBI, the woman turned "stone cold" as she was hearing about Mr Trump. She then said that Mr Trump and Epstein had raped her:

"[Redacted] said 'what' as [redacted] replied 'Donald J Trump had raped her along with Jeffrey Epstein'.

"[Redacted] noted some girl with a funny name 'took me into a fancy hotel or building, that's how it happened'."

The FBI report does not say what action, if any, was taken to follow up on the call. But there is nothing to suggest investigators suspected Mr Trump of wrongdoing or found any evidence to support the claim.

The Department of Justice said:

"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.

"Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein's victims."

The White House was also contacted for comment. It referred the ABC back to the DOJ statement.

Prosecutor's note about Trump's trips on Epstein's jet

A 2020 email from a prosecutor in New York says Mr Trump travelled on Epstein's private jet many more times than had been previously reported.

The email, from an assistant US attorney whose name was redacted, says Mr Trump's name was listed in flight logs for at least eight trips between 1993 and 1996.

Epstein's co-offender Ghislaine Maxwell was listed on at least four of those flights.

Mr Trump's then-wife Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany and his son Eric were also on some of the flights, the email says.

But Mr Trump and Epstein were the only passengers on one of the flights, according to the email. On another flight, Mr Trump and Epstein travelled with an unnamed 20-year-old.

The prosecutor wrote:

"For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump travelled 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 2024, Mr Trump wrote on social media: "I was never on Epstein's Plane, or at his 'stupid' Island." He was responding to AI-generated images that depicted him on Epstein's jet, which had spread online.

Letter from a royal residence seeking 'inappropriate friends'

Among the pages of private correspondence in the files is a 2001 email to Ghislaine Maxwell from "A" at the "Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family".

The author of the email asks Maxwell if she has found any "new inappropriate friends" for him.

Though the sender's identity cannot be verified, there are many details that link it to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former duke of York who was recently stripped of his royal titles.

The then-prince was friends with Epstein and Maxwell, who is now in jail for recruiting and grooming victims for Epstein. He has for years denied allegations of abuse linked to Epstein.

The writer of the email complained of being "totally exhausted at the end of the day" and said "the girls" were "completely shattered".

He continued:

"How's LA? Have you found me some new inappropriate friends? …I want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the fall."

Maxwell replied:

"So sorry to disappoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends."

Another document shows that US authorities wanted to interview Mr Mountbatten-Windsor about his relationships with Epstein and another convicted sex offender, Peter Nygard.

The DOJ sent a formal request to the British government for help setting up a "voluntary" interview, or to conduct a "compelled interview" if Mr Mountbatten-Windsor did not cooperate.

It said Mr Mountbatten-Windsor "may have been a witness to and/or participant in certain events of relevance" to its investigation into Epstein.

It also said investigators found Mr Mountbatten-Windsor "travelled to Nygard Cay in the Bahamas, a location where Nygard is believed to have trafficked minor and adult female victims".

But it said Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was "not presently a target" of either investigation.

'Fake' letter to Larry Nassar

The files include what looks like a handwritten note from Jeffrey Epstein to another well-known paedophile, Larry Nassar — though the DOJ says it is fake.

Nassar is a former US gymnastics team doctor. He was jailed in 2018 for 175 years for abusing young female gymnasts.

The note to Nassar was purportedly written just before Epstein died in 2019. It says:

"As you know by now, I have taken the 'short route' home. Good luck! We shared one thing… our love & caring for young ladies and the hope they'd reach their full potential.

"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."

The documents indicate the note never reached Nassar and was returned to sender.

The DOJ later said the FBI had found the note was fake. The postmark on the envelope was from a different state to where Epstein was jailed, the return address was for the wrong jail, it did not include Epstein's inmate number as required, and the envelope was processed three days after Epstein's death.

It was "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", the DOJ wrote on X.

In 2023, the Associated Press reported that the letter existed, but its contents were not revealed at that time.

Angry reaction

Some of Epstein's victims, survivors and accusers are furious with how the file release has been handled so far.

Under legislation passed by Congress last month, all relevant files should have been published on December 19.

The Department of Justice has argued the process has been held up by its work to redact victims' details, but hundreds of thousands of files would be released soon after the deadline.

More than a dozen women who said they were victims of Epstein signed a letter posted online on Monday, local time.

"The public received a fraction of the files … riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation," it said. "At the same time, numerous victim identities were unredacted, causing real and immediate harm."

They also complained the department had not been communicating with survivors, and the files were released in a way that made it "difficult or impossible" to find what they were looking for.

"While clearer communication would not change the fact that a law was broken, its absence suggests an ongoing intent to keep survivors and the public in the dark as much as possible," the letter said.

Democrats say the latest files raise new questions about Mr Trump's relationship with Epstein.

Former president Bill Clinton featured heavily in the photos that were initially published. His spokesman accused the Trump administration of selectively releasing material to shield "themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever".