Democrats probe alleged Trump files withheld from Epstein release

Democrats are now investigating whether the accusations against Mr Trump were deliberately held back from release.

“Covering up direct evidence of a potential assault by the president of the United States is the most serious possible crime in this White House cover up,” said Congressman Robert Garcia, a Democrat.

That could be inconsistent with a law Congress passed requiring the release of all remaining unclassified government documents related to the investigation into the disgraced sex offender financier who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.

A report by US public broadcaster National Public Radio (NPR) found that around 50 pages of FBI interviews appeared to be missing from the files so far released. 

NPR stated it checked serial numbers of documents, FBI case records and other information – including a list of documents provided to Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers – and found some materials had been catalogued but seemingly not made publicly available.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) told NPR that if any documents were withheld that was because they were part of an ongoing investigation, were duplicates or privileged which means they might disclose confidential information.

It is also possible the files are buried among the released documents but without serial numbers – although they have not been found yet. Some files have been released and then removed after it was found sensitive information, such as victim’s names, were un-redacted. Many of them have were then subsequently re-released.

A White House spokeswoman said the US president had been “totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein” and he had “done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him”.

Previously, the White House had said the files contained “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Mr Trump.

Files seemingly missing

The US president has been mentioned numerous times in documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

It’s no secret Mr Trump and Epstein’s social circles overlapped but Mr Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong and in fact that he had Epstein thrown out of Mar-a-Lago at one point.

The FBI has collected various allegations mentioning Epstein and Mr Trump but dismissed most of them as being not credible.

NPR has reported that the FBI interviewed one person who had accused Mr Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was aged about 13, in 1983. The allegation, states NPR, is that Mr Trump “forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit”.

“In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.” These allegations are strongly denied by Trump.

A summary of that accusation appears briefly in released files. But the related documents it has reviewed, claimed the public broadcaster, suggest the missing files may contain more detailed information, potentially notes on the interview.

FBI documentation suggests the woman was interviewed four times. Only one of the four interviews – where she does mention Mr Trump – is in the released files.

NPR stated that its investigation suggested 53 pages on the interviews were missing.

Mr Garcia, who sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the Justice Department could be breaking the law by not publishing all the documents.

“For the last few weeks, Oversight Democrats have been investigating the FBI’s handling of allegations from 2019 of sexual assault on a minor made against President Donald Trump by a survivor,” Mr Garcia said in a statement.

“Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes.”

The DOJ has accused the Democrats of “manufacturing outrage” and insisting that “NOTHING” has been deleted”.

“If files are temporarily pulled for victim redactions or to redact Personally Identifiable Information, then those documents are promptly restored online and are publicly available,” the DOJ said on social media”.