Top House Democrat accuses Justice Department of withholding FBI interviews tied to Trump accuser in Epstein files release
A senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee alleges the Justice Department withheld more than 50 pages of FBI interview records with a woman who says Donald Trump sexually abused her as a minor, excluding them from the public release of millions of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents.
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Rep. Robert Garcia said he confirmed reports by National Public Radio and independent journalist Roger Sollenberger that the disputed records were absent from the department’s online database of more than 3 million “Epstein files.” The New York Times also reported on the alleged omissions.
Garcia said the FBI interviewed the woman four times but that only the first interview summary — which focused largely on her allegations against Epstein and did not detail claims against Trump — appears in the public archive. The woman first contacted authorities in July 2019, shortly after Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, according to internal references in the released files.
Later references describe her alleging that Epstein introduced her to Trump and that Trump assaulted her in the mid-1980s, when she was 13 to 15 years old. Law enforcement authorities have not accused Trump of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and the Justice Department has cautioned that the trove it released contains unfounded accusations and sensational claims.
“The fact that DOJ is suppressing documents alleging President Trump’s commission of sexual abuse of an underage victim only heightens my genuine concerns about a White House cover-up,” Garcia wrote in a letter to the department.
The Justice Department, responding to broader questions about potential gaps in the public records — including files related to Ghislaine Maxwell — said it is reviewing materials flagged by the public. “Should any document be found to have been improperly tagged in the review process and is responsive to the Act, the department will of course publish it, consistent with the law,” it said on X, referring to a bipartisan statute enacted last year requiring disclosure of Epstein-related records.
The department has struggled to process the massive cache and missed the monthlong deadline Congress set for release. Officials say some records have been withheld to protect the identities of victims and to avoid jeopardizing ongoing investigations.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has characterized the release as exonerating him. “Totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Wednesday. Trump has also denied ever flying on Epstein’s plane and has said a suggestive note to Epstein that appears to bear his signature — among items made public — was faked.
Publicly released materials to date include photographs of Trump with several women whose faces are redacted and a framed note to Epstein bordered by the outline of a naked woman. Evidence and testimony submitted during Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking trial indicate Trump traveled on Epstein’s plane multiple times. In one email, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls,” though the context is unclear.
Trump, who socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s, has said he broke off contact before the financier’s 2008 conviction on a state charge of solicitation of a minor for prostitution. He has denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
As scrutiny intensifies over what remains under seal, Garcia and other Democrats are pressing the Justice Department to account for any missing interviews and to clarify the criteria used to withhold records. The department says it will continue reviewing flagged materials and publish any documents found to have been excluded in error.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
