The Department of Justice on Tuesday said that the handwritten letter by Jeffrey Epstein, addressed to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar, that was released as a part of the Epstein files, is “fake”.

The department stated that the handwriting did not match with that of Epstein’s and wrote on X that “…just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual.”

The letter dated 2019, when Trump was president, was allegedly written by Epstein to Nassar and discussed a ‘love of young girls’. Although it did not explicitly name Trump, it mentioned “our president”.

The letter says, “Dear L.N., 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.”

US media had taken the phrase ‘short route home’ to be a dark euphemism for Epstein’s suicide.

The message appeared to have been sent in August 2019, the month Epstein died by suicide — although DOJ officials said the postmark, return address and omission of an inmate number suggest it may not be genuine.

In a statement, the DOJ said the FBI “has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE,” saying it was postmarked three days after Epstein’s death and entered the mail system in Virginia, despite him being jailed in New York.

The Epstein Files is a set of documents containing the names, photographs, letters, and other dealings related to Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with the offence of sex trafficking of minors.

Trump said Monday he did not approve of the file dumps, expressing concern that people who “innocently met” Epstein over the years risked having their reputations smeared.