The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has been accused of withholding documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that include allegations against former president Donald Trump, according to a report by US National Public Radio (NPR).
NPR reported that dozens of records catalogued by the DOJ — including more than 50 pages of FBI interview notes with a woman who accused Trump of sexually abusing her as a minor decades ago — were not included in publicly released files, despite legal requirements for disclosure.
The DOJ declined to respond to NPR’s specific questions but said any unreleased material is either privileged, duplicative, or connected to an ongoing federal investigation.
Following the report, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said his staff had confirmed discrepancies in the document release. He alleged that the DOJ may have unlawfully withheld FBI interviews with a survivor who accused Trump of serious crimes and announced a separate investigation into the department’s handling of the records.
In response, a White House spokesperson told NPR that Trump has been “totally exonerated” in matters related to Epstein and has cooperated with document releases and congressional inquiries.
Among the allegations referenced in internal FBI records is a claim by a woman who said she was about 13 years old in 1983 when Epstein introduced her to Trump. She alleged Trump assaulted her and struck her when she resisted. While the claim appears in internal FBI summaries, NPR reported that related interview transcripts are missing from the public database.
Case logs from the criminal proceedings against Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell indicate the FBI interviewed the woman four times. However, only the first interview — which does not mention Trump — appears in the public files. In that interview, the woman’s lawyer reportedly said a photograph she provided of Epstein was cropped due to fears of implicating prominent individuals. Agents described the image as a widely circulated photograph of Epstein with Trump.
Other documents reportedly missing involve a key witness in Maxwell’s trial, which resulted in her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. That witness told the FBI she met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club as a minor while being abused by Epstein. According to NPR, one interview detailing this account was briefly removed from the public database before being restored, while another interview with the witness’s mother remains unavailable.
Robert Glassman, an attorney for one of the witnesses in Maxwell’s trial, criticised the DOJ’s approach, arguing that the department had been ordered to ensure transparency about Epstein and Maxwell’s network but instead exposed the identities of victims seeking anonymity.
A DOJ spokesperson told NPR that the department is reviewing redaction issues and acknowledged that, given the volume of material released, some sensitive or personally identifiable information may have been inadvertently included.