An NPR investigation has found that the Justice Department appears to have withheld dozens of pages from the publicly released Epstein files, including documents related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor. The missing files reportedly include more than 50 pages of FBI interview records and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse when she was a minor decades ago.
NPR reviewed serial numbers stamped on documents across the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery logs, identifying pages that appear to be catalogued by the Justice Department but never made public. The DOJ declined to answer questions on the record about the specific files. After publication, a DOJ spokeswoman stated that any documents not published are either privileged, duplicates or relate to an ongoing federal investigation.
Following NPR’s reporting, House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia confirmed that Democrats on the committee had reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the DOJ and said the department appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with the woman who made the accusation against Trump. Democrats on the committee have now opened a parallel investigation into the DOJ’s decision not to release the documents.
According to the files that were released, the woman alleged that around 1983, when she was approximately 13 years old, Epstein introduced her to Trump, who she accused of sexual assault. The FBI interviewed this woman four times, but only the first interview, conducted in July 2019, appears in the public database. That interview does not mention Trump. NPR’s review found approximately 53 pages of interview documents and notes appear to be missing from the public database.
The White House denied the allegations, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stating that Trump has been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein and pointing to his efforts to release Epstein-related documents and sign the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also insisted in a February letter to Congress that no records were withheld for political reasons or to protect any public figure.
Separately, other files removed from public view relate to a key prosecution witness in the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and is seeking clemency from Trump. Some of those documents were briefly taken down and restored last week, while others remain unavailable.
