Te'o hoax: ND prez tells trustees school did its best in 'extraordinary circumstances'

52cdbb9c-APTOPIX Notre Dame Teo Football

In a photo provided by ESPN, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o pauses during an interview with ESPN on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, in Bradenton, Fla. (AP Photo/ESPN Images, Ryan Jones) MANDATORY CREDIT (The Associated Press)

This Jan. 22, 2013 photo released by ABC Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, right, speaking with host Katie Couric during an interview for "Katie," in New York. Te'o has told Katie Couric that he briefly lied about his online girlfriend after discovering she didn't exist, while maintaining that he had no part in creating the hoax. Pressed by Couric to admit that he was in on the deception, Te'o said he believed that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua had died of cancer and didn't lie about it until December. The interview will air on Thursday, Jan. 24. (AP Photo/Disney-ABC, Lorenzo Bevilaqua) (The Associated Press)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame's president has sent the school's board of trustees a letter outlining and defending the actions of university leaders after they were informed about the Manti Te'o dead girlfriend hoax.

The letter from the Rev. John Jenkins was dated Friday and obtained by The Associated Press from a university official on condition of anonymity because the private school's internal workings are confidential.

It says school administrators decided within hours of hearing from Te'o that it did not involve a crime and within two days had concluded there was no NCAA violation.

Jenkins says Te'o's story has held up despite unrelenting scrutiny. And he says that until Jan. 3, university officials believed Lennay Kekua was real.