Democrats to investigate whether DoJ withheld Epstein files on Trump abuse claim

Democrats on the House oversight and government reform committee announced on Tuesday the launch of an investigation to determine whether the US Department of Justice (DoJ) purposely withheld materials that pertain to allegations against Donald Trump in the government’s release of the Epstein files.

The lawmakers pledged to look into a report that Trump had been accused by a woman of sexually abusing her decades ago when she was a minor, and that material relating to the allegation in the Epstein files has not been released to the public.

The latest report refers to documents allegedly within the official records known as the Epstein files, where more than 3 million documents have been released relating to the late sex offender and disgraced New York financier, Jeffrey Epstein.

Congressman Robert Garcia of California, a Democrat and the ranking member of the committee, said in a statement that he reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the justice department and that “Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DoJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes”.

“Under the oversight committee’s subpoena and the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these records must immediately be shared with Congress and the American public,” said Garcia. “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.”

The oversight committee’s announcement coincided with the publication of an investigative report by NPR on Tuesday, which asserted that the DoJ withheld “what appears to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor”.

The report also says that the justice department “removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump”.

NPR’s investigation said that one lead involving Trump was sent to the FBI’s Washington office with the intent to set up an interview with the woman accusing him. The lead was included in an internal slide deck detailing “prominent names” in the sex-trafficking investigations into Epstein and his convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, last year.

The accuser directly named Trump in her allegation made in 2019, according to NPR, reportedly saying Epstein introduced her to him in about 1983, when she was 13 and Trump was a New York businessman and would have been in his mid-30s, and that there was an attempt at sexual contact.

When asked for comment, the White House did not respond to the reported allegation specifically but referred to a recent X post, which denies any wrongdoing in the way the files are being handled. “[The Justice Department] has repeatedly said publicly AND directly to [NPR] prior to deadline – 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 statement said.

“ALL responsive documents have been produced unless a document falls within one of the following categories: duplicates, privileged, or part of an ongoing federal investigation,” the White House said.

The statement also said that Democrats on the House oversight committee should “stop misleading the public while manufacturing outrage from their radical anti-Trump base”.

Trump has previously denied any wrongdoing in relation to the activities of Epstein and the federal case that was upended when Epstein killed himself in jail while awaiting trial in New York in 2019.