'Friendly note' to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell used to sink Trump's Epstein defense

MSNBC's Lawrence O’Donnell shared a note that President Donald Trump sent him and used it to confirm the validity of the signature on a crude Jeffrey Epstein birthday note.

"Donald Trump is silent about the worst thing that happened to him today," O'Donnell said Monday after a House committee released the message, written on a drawing of a naked female. Trump's office immediately denounced it as a fraud, and claimed the signature was not Trump's.

"I have my own entry to offer in the Trump handwriting samples," he said. "In the second week of January in 2016, I got my one and only note from Donald Trump. It was a handwritten note and he signed it 'best wishes, Donald.' Just the first name, just like the birthday letter."

In the 'friendly note,' which O'Donnell refers to as "almost generous," was included a check to the host's favorite charity, he said. But the check was "from the Donald J. Trump foundation, "which we now know it was operating so fraudulently that it is no longer allowed to operate in the state of New York and it has been disbanded. ... Filled with money that did not come from Donald Trump."

It was surprising to O'Donnell, who noted the check was for $10,000. He told viewers on the show that night in 2016 that he was stunned to receive it, especially as Trump had previously attacked him and called him "one of the dumber people on television," "dopey," and "a fool," among other things. He also was privately urging NBC to remove O'Donnell.

He believed Trump had hated him. And, at the time, O'Donnell said he couldn't accept the donation and said it was unethical for him to report on candidates and accept any contributions from them. He ended up replacing the check and writing his own $10,000 donation to the charity, he said.

During the broadcast Monday night, O'Donnell shared a side-by-side comparison of the signature in Trump's note to him and the birthday letter and doodle he allegedly sent to Epstein.

Following a subpoena to the Epstein estate, the House Oversight Committee obtained and released the disgraced financier's 50th birthday book, which has letters — some bawdy and lewd — from notable people, including former President Bill Clinton, Leon Black, Ghislaine Maxwell and designer Vera Wang.

"By now, the world knows that the letter that Donald Trump in effect swore under oath in his lawsuit does not exist, not only exists, but it's now been seen around the world and it appears exactly the way the Wall Street Journal first described in the very first news report about the letter, which did not include in the time of the letter actually showing the copy of the letter," O'Donnell said.

The Wall Street Journal reported the existence of the book on July 17 and Trump sued The Journal, calling it "the non-existent letter" in the lawsuit.

Vice President JD Vance in July denied The Journal's report and was roasted following the news of the letter's release.

"Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bulls---," Vance wrote via X. "The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it. Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?"

Watch the MSNBC video at this link.