The U.S. Justice Department announced it is examining whether certain FBI interview summaries connected to the Jeffrey Epstein files were improperly withheld from its recent public release of more than three million pages of records. The review follows reporting that only one summary from multiple 2019 FBI interviews with an accuser was included in the released materials. The department said that if any responsive document was wrongly withheld under the federal law requiring disclosure, it will be published consistent with legal requirements.
Allegations Involving Donald Trump and Ongoing Denials
The missing records reportedly relate to interviews conducted after Epstein’s 2019 arrest with a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted as a minor in the 1980s by both Epstein and President Donald Trump. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The Justice Department previously stated that some claims submitted to the FBI before the 2020 election were unfounded and false, emphasizing that uncorroborated allegations were included in the broader file release.
Political and Legal Fallout From the Document Release
The controversy comes amid broader criticism of how the Epstein files were handled, including flawed redactions that exposed identifying information of alleged victims. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said lawmakers would investigate whether interview summaries were illegally withheld. The document release is part of the government’s handling of records related to Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
