The Justice Department says it is reviewing whether any Epstein-related records were accidentally seized
By ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department said Wednesday it was looking into whether it improperly withheld documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s files after multiple news organizations reported that some records involving the woman’s unsubstantiated allegations about President Donald Trump were not among those released to the public.
The announcement follows news reports that a batch of records released by the Justice Department did not include several summaries of FBI interviews with an unidentified woman who came forward after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 and said she was sexually abused by Trump and Epstein when she was a child in the 1980s.
“Several people and news outlets have recently flagged files related to documents produced by Ghislaine Maxwell when her criminal case was discovered and they say it appears to have been lost,” said the Department of Justice in a post on X. “As with all publicly flagged documents, the Department is currently reviewing the files in that product category.” Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime confidant, is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
It said that if there is a document found to be withheld improperly and in response to the law passed by the organization authorizing the release of files, “the Department will definitely publish it, in accordance with the law.”
At issue is a series of interviews allegedly conducted in 2019 with the woman who sued Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein. News reports from recent days say the accuser has been interviewed four times but a summary of only one interview has been included in publicly released files.
The missing records were previously reported by reporter Roger Sollenberger on Substack and NPR, and have since been covered by other news organizations, including the New York Times, MS Now and CNN.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement that his group would investigate the withheld records. He said he reviewed the unredacted evidence logs and “can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld the FBI’s interviews” with the accuser.
The Justice Department last month said it was releasing more than three million pages of records related to Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The department said at the time that, although it tried to be transparent, it had the authority to withhold records that identify potential victims of abuse, duplicate or protected legal rights, or are related to an ongoing criminal investigation.
“Some of the documents contain false and sensational claims against President Trump that were brought to the FBI before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are baseless and false, and if they had any element of credibility, they would certainly have been armed against President Trump,” the department said in a statement last month as it released the records.
The redaction process was quickly found to be flawed, with the department withdrawing some material identified by victims or their lawyers, as well as “a large number” of documents independently identified by the government.
Attorneys for Epstein’s accusers told a New York judge last month that the lives of nearly 100 victims have been “changed” by the government’s recent redaction of records. The exposed material included nude photos of potential victims as well as names, email addresses and other identifying information that may not have been redacted or fully masked.
Other unsubstantiated claims against Trump and other public figures have been included in publicly available files. The department did not say in a social media post Wednesday why records related to the allegations may have been withheld.
